Common Vietnamese family name of Chinese origin,
meaning a musical instrument, pronounced as 'NuhWen' (listen)

After the Nguyen clan (who traced their roots back to a powerful clan from the Tranh Hoa province) had supported Le Loi in his successful rebellion against the Ming Dynasty (1418-1427), they swiftly ascended and became a major noble family in Vietnam.

The most famous Nguyen from this era is probably Nguyen Thi Anh (1422?-1459), queen-consort for about 20 years and mother of King Le Nhan Tong, in whose stead she ruled at the side of the deceased king’s close friend and senior advisor, Trinh Kha.

As a result of the death of Nguyen Kim by Mac assassins in 1545, military power passed on to his son-in-law Trinh Kiem, which was strongly opposed by Nguyen Kim’s two sons, Uong and Huang. After the assassination of Nguyen Uong, his younger brother feigned insanity while secretly looking for a way out. Upon mediation of his sister Ngog Bao (Trinh Kiem’s wife), Trinh Kiem transferred his troublesome relative to an insignificant area in the south, peopled only “with coughing monkeys and crowing storks.”

However, Nguyen Huang’s behaviour and political wisdom led to unprecedented and certainly unexpected support which, aided by cleverly flattering Trinh Kiem during a visit to the capital in 1569, earned him the two important provinces Thuan Hoa and Quang Nam, an imprudent act by Trinh Kiem which finally led to the Nguyen Lords’ dominance over the entire south and the ensuing power struggle between the two feudal families (referred to as ‘Vietnamese Shoguns’ by Chapuis) under the ornamental reign of the Le Emperors.

Unlike the Trinh, the Nguyen Lords were quite open to foreign trade and communications with Europeans, namely the Portuguese, from whom they obtained advanced weapons. They also conducted fairly extensive trade with Japan and China. The Portuguese trade centre at Faifo (present day Hoi An), never having been a major trade base like Macau or Goa, faded into insignificance when the Nguyen Lords’ demand for European military equipment declined.

Until 1777 the Nguyen Lords were de facto rulers of Dang Trong, the south of Vietnam. However, already weakened by constant warfare and a peasant uprising in 1771, the Nguyen Lords fought until 1780 when 15-year-old Nguyen Anh, the last surviving member of the family, was forced into exile.

In 1802, Nguyen Anh returned and managed to overthrow the short-lived Tay Son Dynasty, effectively uniting Vietnam for the second time after 300 years. As emperor he adopted name Gia Long, founding the last Vietnamese Dynasty that lasted for 143 years, until 1945.

Nguyen is the Vietnamese variant of the Chinese names Ruan (Mandarin) and Yuan (Cantonese). All names are represented by the same character, 阮, meaning ruan, an ancient musical instrument, a lute with a fretted neck, a circular body and four silk strings. Apparently the surname Ruan has its roots in the Ruan kingdom (south east of Jing Chuan in Gansu province, eliminated during the Shang Dynasty) when its people took up Ruan as a family name; another branch comes from the Shi family who changed their name to Ruan.

Nowadays Nguyen is the most common Vietnamese family name. The reason for this can be attributed to several aspects:

After having been usurped in 1232, the surviving members of the Ly family were forced to change their surnames to Nguyen. Many descendants of the Ho family deliberately adopted Nguyen as family name in fear of retribution after their dynasty had been overthrown in 1407, so did those of the Mac after their dynasty had collapsed in 1592, and those of the Trinh family after their archrivals had established the Nguyen Dynasty in 1802. Moreover, the Nguyen Emperors generously awarded their family name to people as a ‘badge of honour’.

Ironically, thanks to its growing prevalence, quite a good number of criminals also adopted this family name as a means to escape prosecution.

Please feel free to take this family plaque, depicting the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty, Gia Long.

image 149200

References and Sources:
Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons
“A History of Vietnam: From Hong Bang to Tu Duc” by Oscar Chapuis
Yutopian Enterprises
Content and images by Nguyen Van Vien