The way the U.S. Department of States (DOS) currently inputs Vietnamese names on U.S. entry visas are causing troubles for Vietnamese immigrants and students in the U.S. We request DOS to change back to the old way of inputting Vietnamese names that was in existence for many years up until 2017.

Vietnamese names consist of three parts: one family name (surname), one or more middle name(s), and one given name, USED IN THAT ORDER. For a person named NGUYEN THI THU PHUONG: NGUYEN is family name (last name), THI THU are middle names, and PHUONG is first name (or given name).

The old U.S. visa listed that person’s name as follows:
Surname: NGUYEN
Given name: PHUONG THI THU

Per the current US visa :
Surname: NGUYEN
Given name: THI THU PHUONG

When that person immigrates to or becomes a student in the US and applies for their green card, SSN or driver’s license, their name would be shorten to read: THI NGUYEN, or THI-THU-PHUONG NGUYEN. Both are misleading. That person would actually go by PHUONG in daily life.

The biggest problem with this system is the increasing number of similar names. The majority of Vietnamese share the common family name of NGUYEN (40% of the population), followed by TRAN (11%) and LE (9.5%). "THI" is a traditional middle name for female, as is "VAN" for male names. It is not surprising that there is a school in the US with eight female Vietnamese students with the name of THI NGUYEN.

If the DOS kept the old of way of inputting Vietnamese names, NGUYEN THI THU PHUONG could shorten her name to PHUONG NGUYEN, and NGUYEN THI THU HA to HA NGUYEN when in the US. With the current way, both of them would be THI NGUYEN.

For the above mentioned reasons, we request the DOS to change back to the old way of inputting Vietnamese names on US immigrant and non-immigrant visas as follows:

Surname: one patrilineal family name [NGUYEN]
Given name: one given name [PHUONG] + one or more middle names (in the same order as appeared on Vietnamese passport) [THI THU].

Respectfully signed.
Trang Nguyen