# How do native Vietnamese pronounce the surname Nguyen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970 "2011-03-08T22:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/21 "2011-03-09T06:40:39Z")
> [@j66](#): > > I believe the pronunciation requires pressing the tongue against the back of the palate. Before going to Vietnam in 1969 I spent a year in DC trying to learn Vietnamese. As I remember it the ng sound required rolling your tongue up in a ball and then flailing your teeth with it. Of course it has been a long time and I never did do well with the language. Anytime I tried anything more advanced than hello you could see them going through all the various tones to try and find something that made sense. ---
**Author:** ![donnie\_darko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@donnie\_darko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donnie_darko)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/22 "2011-03-09T11:59:25Z")
ha that name is almost impossible to pronounce! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/23 "2011-03-09T14:08:07Z")
I say if they’re going to have unpronounceable names, they have to take what they can get, lol. I know a Vietnamese girl and she pronounces it “Noo - In” , rhymes with Schwinn, and that’s as close as it gets. What about the name “Phuoc” or “Phuc”? When I worked for a social services agency we had a family with that name and I never did ask how that was pronounced, other than, well … ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/24 "2011-03-09T14:37:33Z")
I went to school with a girl who had pretty much given up and would write her name as “Twee Wayne”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/25 "2011-03-09T14:53:34Z")
Next up: Names in the !Xhosa language. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/26 "2011-03-09T15:09:39Z")
[bad taste] In South Africa, do the Rice Krispies mascots have the same names? [/sorry] ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/27 "2011-03-09T15:31:55Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I say if they’re going to have unpronounceable names, they have to take what they can get, lol. It seems to me this statement is incongruous with the topic of this thread, and seems a little culturally hostile. After all, the OP didn’t ask “How should Americans pronounce the Vietnamese name ‘Nguyen’?” > [@](#): > > What about the name “Phuoc” or “Phuc”? When I worked for a social services agency we had a family with that name and I never did ask how that was pronounced, other than, well … Well, I’m not very good with Vietnamese at all, so when I hear a Vietnamese person say “Phuc,” it sounds exactly like you’re afraid it’s going to sound. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/28 "2011-03-09T15:38:17Z")
I’m in the south and I just learned to pronouce this Gwen, like what **kenobi** said. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/29 "2011-03-09T15:43:17Z")
I have a young woman named Nguyen in my legal advocacy class this semester, and she told me it’s prounounced “Win.” ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/30 "2011-03-09T16:45:51Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Is it really pronounced “win” in Vietnam, though? Not really. Vietnamese is a tonal language (like Chinese) and the phonemes in “Nguyen” do not exist in English. Even if an English learner listens to a native correctly pronouncing “Nguyen” a 100 times, it will be near impossible to get the inflection exactly right unless he started learning the sing-song aspect of the language as a child. The words “win” or “when” are usable approximations for English speakers. Likewise, Spanish folks don’t expect us to roll the r’s and Germans allow us to pronounce “Bach” as “bok” instead of trying to eek out a non-existent “ch” sound. The pronunciation barriers work both ways – we cut the Nguyen’s some slack when they can’t pronounce anything with a hard “r” sound (e.g. “world”) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/31 "2011-03-09T16:51:34Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > i knew a girl who had Ng as her surname. supposed to be pronounced “wee” but… wasn’t. Someone with that name told me it was pronounced Eng. Another coworker pronounced it Noodge. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/32 "2011-03-09T17:04:58Z")
One of my employees is of Vietnamese descent and has that last name. I suppose its an Americanized pronunciation but he says it like “New-gin”, almost like Nugent, except without the “t”. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/33 "2011-03-09T17:30:50Z")
There’s a lot of them around here, and I’ve heard it as both NOOwin, and nWIN. But always with the “N” sound at the start. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/34 "2011-03-09T17:38:09Z")
**orcenio** , when I listen to those files, they are hard to parse. The second especially has a strong “synthetic” reverb going on. It sounds more like a spring going _sproing_ than a word. Does anyone else notice this? Is it an artifact of the sound file, or actual part of the sing-song aspect mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/35 "2011-03-09T17:41:07Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **orcenio** , when I listen to those files, they are hard to parse. The second especially has a strong “synthetic” reverb going on. It sounds more like a spring going _sproing_ than a word. > > Does anyone else notice this? Is it an artifact of the sound file, or actual part of the sing-song aspect mentioned? Sounds exactly like nWIN to me. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/36 "2011-03-09T17:44:22Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Someone with that name told me it was pronounced Eng. Another coworker pronounced it Noodge. I had two successive bosses in Hong Kong with the surname Ng. For the boss I liked, it was just like saying the “ng” sound at the end of “wing”, but without the “wi”. For the boss I didn’t like, it was just like the noise you make when you’re taking a big shit. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/37 "2011-03-09T17:50:05Z")
NWE-en ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/38 "2011-03-09T18:16:08Z")
There was a young fellow named Nguyen Whose name always caused him to gruyen. He explained, “In Saigon It’s as common as John, But it has all you Yanks in a spuyen!” ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/39 "2011-03-09T18:25:27Z")
Vbfeeeqz Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970/40 "2011-03-09T18:39:58Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > “new-yin” > [@DCnDC](#): > > “new-win,” but said really fast so it often just sounded like “win.” > [@tdn](#): > > “New one” … “Gwen.” > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Win.” > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > “New-gin”, almost like Nugent, except without the “t”. > [@Leaffan](#): > > NOOwin, and nWIN. But always with the “N” sound at the start. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Sounds exactly like nWIN to me. > [@Sitnam](#): > > NWE-en If the question is “What is the best approximation of the Vietnamese family name Nguyen for English speakers?” then these answers can be in play. If the question is “How do native Vietnamese pronounce the surname Nguyen?” then all of these answers are irrelevant. In fact, any answer that tries to substitute English phonemes for Vietnamese ones that don’t exist in English are going to be wrong. Any correct answer must reference Vietnamese phonology – [ŋʷjə̌ˀn] Now, I know intellectually what it means, but I can’t really pronounce it. And even if I get a native speaker of Vietnamese to say it for me, I’m not going to catch all the phonologically significant aspects of the pronunciation. To really understand the answer to the OP’s you have to engage in a study of Vietnamese phonology. Only then will you get a correct answer that you can understand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-native-vietnamese-pronounce-the-surname-nguyen/573970.md?page=3)