The term "Việt Kiều" is quite familiar to me. My distant relatives are Việt Kiều, so I heard that term a lot of times from my parents when I was young. To me, I just barely understand that Việt Kiều are those who live in other countries, not in Vietnam. 

When I asked my English teacher how to say "Việt Kiều" in English, he had no hesitation to reply me: "overseas Vietnamese" meaning Vietnamese living abroad. That's what we can find in any Vietnamese-English dictionary. Therefore, I strongly believe that my understanding is correct and "overseas Vietnamese" is the best translation for "Việt Kiều".

Until I decided to have my own teaching website for Việt Kiều, I really thought of what "việt" and "kiều" separately mean. And here is what I found. 

"Việt Kiều" is actually a Sino- Vietnamese word. "Việt" is việt people. "Kiều", according to Chinese-Vietnamese dictionary by Thiều Chửu, means "live in other people's place temporarily, not permanently". As a result, the phrase "Việt Kiều" refers to Vietnamese who live in other country temporarily. They are not the citizen of that place. In the meantime, "overseas Vietnamese" refers to Vietnamese who live abroad but not including the meaning of "temporarily". Now, frankly, are you convinced that "overseas Vietnamese" is not 100% equal to "Việt Kiều"?

Personally, "overseas Vietnamese" should be translated "người Việt hải ngoại".

What do you think? 

What is your last name? Has any one ever wondered why "Nguyễn" is so common surname in Vietnam? Is it a special surname?

Vietnamese is a diversity of 54 ethnics with many family names. The surname name "Nguyễn": is believesd to have originated in the Chinese surname "Ruan" (in Mandarin language) or "Yuen" (Cantonese) owing to China's long domination over Vietnam. During both periods of Chinese rule and Vietnamese dynasty power in Vietnam, the name "Nguyễn" was forced upon the public (sometimes by threat of violence and even pain of death) by the new regimes or for various historical reasons. 

According to many sources that I read, there are some following reasons:

1. When the king "Nguyễn Hoàng" expanded our country to the South, those who followed him could change their surname into "Nguyễn".
2. After Nguyễn family founded their dynasty in Huế, they gave the name "Nguyễn" to the officials. The children of those officials, therefore, took "Nguyễn" as their surname for the purpose of honoring the King. Thus, "Nguyễn" is royal surname.
3. In some points of our ancient history, people changed their surname into "Nguyễn" in order to be safe. For example, after the conflict between "Trịnh" dynasty and "Nguyễn" dynasty, the offspring of Trịnh had to take "Nguyễn" as their surname to avoid the revenge from Nguyễn.

Vietnamese are very careful in choosing a name for their children. With some people, a name can depict a person's personality. That's the reason why the names for boys are often strong and many, and the names for girls are often gentle, and expressing something light and charming. 

Below are meanings of some common Vietnamese names.

MALE:
- Minh: bright and clear
- Hùng: knowledgeable, smart and brave
- Dũng: brave, talented, kind-hearted
- Đạt: successful and wise
- Tuấn: handsome, talented, successful
- Khoa: handsome, excellent, study well, always be on the top of the class or competition
- Bảo: precious, smart and successful
- Bình: safe, peaceful and calm
- Chí: high-spirited, smart, hard-working
- Duy: nice and polite
- Nam: manly and lucky
- Trung: smart, quick, honest, and direct

FEMALE:
- Hằng: beautiful and talented
- Lan: tanlented and virtuous
- Mai: talented and smart
- Nga: beautiful, bright and brave 
- Thúy: beautiful, calm and happy
- Thùy: gentle, beautiful and nice
- Thủy: beautiful and clever
- Trang: honest, quick, elegant and rich
- Trinh: beautiful and nice
- Xuân: happy and clever 
- Vân: smart, clever and rich