Virtually all family names are Chinese in origin, although a few (particularly in the south) have been traced to Cham origins, but presumably have been Vietnamized. The surname Nguyen is rare among Chinese family names, appearing as (Mandarin) Ruan or (Cantonese) Yuen, mostly in Guangdong province, possibly among those with partial or distant Vietnamese ethnic ancestry (also termed Gin ethnicity).

The most popular family names among the Vietnamese are (the Chinese characters following each name are their Chinese equivalents):

實際上所有家庭一開始都來自中國，雖然有些(尤其在南越)源自於蒙古，但都已同化了。”阮”這個姓在中國很少見，應該是源自於中文的阮(Ruan)或廣東話的阮(Yuen)，大部份都在廣東省，可能是越南民族的遠親。最多的越南姓氏如下：

Nguyen 阮 (38.4%)

Tran陳 (11%)

Le 黎 (9.5%)

Huynh/Hoang 黃 (5.1%)

Pham 范 (5%)

Phan 潘 (4.5%)

Vu/Vo 武 (3.9%)

Dang鄧(2.1%)

Bui裴 (2%)

Do杜 (1.4%)

Ho胡 (1.3%)

Ngo吳 (1.3%)

Duong楊 (1%)

Ly李 (0.5%)

The following include some other less common surnames, in no particular order(以下為較少見的姓)：

Lam林

Dinh 丁

Nghiem 嚴

Dao 陶

Vuong 王

Trinh鄭 (almost exclusively a northern surname, based around Thanh Hoa)

Phung 馮

Chung 鍾

Trieu 趙

Doan 段

Truong 張

Ton 孫

Lieu (in northern or central regions): 柳

Luu (in central or southern regions): 劉

Mai 梅

La 羅

Van 文

Ta 謝

Luong 梁

Kim 金

Thach 石