Phạm

Phạm (范) is the fourth most common Vietnamese family name. It may be rendered as Fàn in Chinese or Beom/Pom/Pem (범) in Korean.

Phạm

Pronunciation	International Phonetic Alphabet Hanoi: [faːm˧˨ʔ] Saigon: [faːm˨˩˨]
Language(s)	Vietnamese
Other names
Variant form(s)	Fan, Huan, Fam, Hwang, Fung (from Chinese), Beom/Pŏm/Pem (Korean)

It is not to be confused with Phan (潘), another Vietnamese surname.

Origin

Phạm is the Sino-Vietnamese reading of the Chữ Hán: 范.

Phạm arose in historical sources from around the third century CE. It was the title prepositions before names of kings of Lâm Ấp, kings of Funan, the eight chiefs of Jiao, and several tribal figures along the Annamite Mountain between the third to the seventh century CE. American historian Michael Vickery (1998) links the reconstructs the pronunciation of 范 as *buam and *bĭwɐm in Early Middle Chinese (c. 650 CE) with Old Khmer title poñ which was recorded in various 7th-century Cambodian inscriptions.^[1] Later, a Phạm family emerged on the coastal side of the Red River basin in the 10th century. Vickery argues that the term was certainly of Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) origin, and the described demographics associated with the term (*bĭwɐm < *krum ~ prum, krom, khom) are strong linguistic indications of Mon-Khmer.^[2] The term is still preserved in few Austroasiatic languages today, such as Temoq *puang (ritualist) ~ puiyang (shaman, + nominalizing infix -iy-) < pauñ < poñ, suggesting a pre-Buddhist native Mon-Khmer institution of leadership who possessed both shamanistic ritual and political roles.^[3]

Frequency

Phạm is a very prevalent last name in Vietnam. Among the global ethnic Vietnamese population, it is the fourth-most common name, accounting for 5% of the approximately 75 million people. It is also quite common in the United States, shared by around 82,000 citizens.^[4] It is the 951st most common surname in France^[5] and the 455th most common in Australia.^[6][7]

Phạm (范) family Vietnamese Five Colours Flag

People

Notable people with the surname Phạm include:

Science

• Phạm Tuân (born 1947), Vietnamese pilot and cosmonaut
• Frédéric Pham (born 1938), Vietnamese-French mathematician
• Kathy Pham, Vietnamese American computer scientist

Politics and military

• Phạm Công Trứ (1600–1675), Lê dynasty Vietnamese scholar-official and historian
• Phạm Ngũ Lão (1255–1320), general of the Trần Dynasty
• Phạm Văn Đồng (1906–2000), Vietnamese politician
• Hung Pham (born 1963), Vietnamese Canadian politician
• Phạm Ngọc Thảo (1922–1965), Vietnamese communist sleeper agent of the Việt Minh
• Phạm Phú Quốc (1935–1965), Vietnamese fighter pilot and lieutenant in the South Vietnam Air Force
• Phạm Văn Phú (1928–1975), Vietnamese officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
• Phạm Quang Khiêm (born 1946), Vietnamese first lieutenant and co-pilot in the South Vietnam Air Force
• Phạm Thanh Ngân (born 1939), Vietnamese flying ace
• Khanh Pham (born 1978), American politician and activist
• J. Peter Pham (fl. 2000s–2020s), American diplomat

Arts and entertainment

• Phạm Duy (1921–2013), Vietnamese composer and songwriter
• Linh Dan Pham (born 1974), Vietnamese-born French actress
• Hoa Pham, Australian author
• Phi Nhung (1970–2021), Vietnamese-American singer, actress and humanitarian
• Quang X. Pham (born 1964), Vietnamese-American businessman and veteran
• Andrew X. Pham, Vietnamese-born American author
• Thái Thanh (1934–2020), Vietnamese-American singer
• Pham Thi Hoai (born 1960), Vietnamese writer, editor and translator
• Phạm Xuân Ẩn (1927–2006), Vietnamese journalist and communist spy
• Phạm Xuân Nguyên (born 1958), Vietnamese writer and literary translator
• Phạm Hương (born 1991), Vietnamese model and beauty pageant titleholder
• Đan Trường (born Phạm Đan Trường, 1976), Vietnamese singer and actor
• Thanh Hằng (born Phạm Thị Thanh Hằng, 1983), Vietnamese actress and beauty pageant titleholder
• Hanni Pham (born Phạm Ngọc Hân, 2004), Australian Vietnamese singer, member of girl group NewJeans
• Phạm Đoan Trang (born 1978), Vietnamese author and democracy activist

Sports

• Thierry Pham (born 1962), French retired tennis player
• Phạm Thành Lương (born 1988), Vietnamese football manager
• Phạm Đức Huy (born 1995), Vietnamese footballer
• Phạm Xuân Mạnh (born 1996), Vietnamese professional footballer
• Phạm Tuấn Hải (born 1998), Vietnamese professional footballer
• Phạm Như Phương (born 2003), Vietnamese artistic gymnast
• ana (gamer) (born Anathan Pham, 1999), Australian professional Dota 2 player
• Tommy Pham (born 1988), American professional baseball player

Religious figures

• Phạm Công Tắc (1890–1959), leader in the establishment and development of the Caodaism religion
• Phạm Minh Mẫn (born 1934), Vietnamese cardinal

Fictional characters

• Pham Tai, protagonist of the 18th century epic poem, Phạm Tải – Ngọc Hoa
• Pham Thi La, a character in the Muv-Luv spin-off series Schwarzesmarken

See also

• Fàn (surname)
• Vietnamese name