[1][2][3] Nguyễn is the transcription of the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the character 阮, which originally was used to write a name of a state in Gansu or an ancient Chinese instrument ruan.

In late 16th century, the Tư Mã clan from Thanh Hóa changed to Nguyễn and settled in Cochinchina.

The Nguyen surname also appears in China (Chinese: 阮; pinyin: Ruǎn) but is significantly less common than its Vietnamese counterpart.

[citation needed]The prevalence of Nguyễn as a family name in Vietnam extends to outside the country, due to numerous and widespread Vietnamese emigrants.

[10] It was the 41st most common surname in Norway in 2020[11] and tops the foreign name list in the Czech Republic.

In Northern Vietnam, it is pronounced with the creaky rising tone: the pitch of the voice rises from mid-level to the top of the speaker's range of pitch, but with constricted vocal cords, akin to a glottal stop in the middle of the vowel.

Trần Quang Diệu (like his wife Bùi Thị Xuân) worked as a major officer for the Tây Sơn dynasty, against Nguyễn Ánh.

Historically in Vietnam and many East Asian countries, the rulers may let their courtiers share their family name as a reward for their loyalty.

[citation needed] Civilians also adopted the name during the Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War for purposes of social climbing, having migrated from the north to the south.