I am not Vietnamese in any way, shape or form. I just read some information on Vietnamese personal names on Wikipedia, claiming that Thi is a common middle name for Vietnamese women and Van for Viet men. And it is not just Wikipedia. It is other websites too. People do say it is common, especially among the older cohort of Vietnamese people, maybe less so for the younger generations. The inclusion of Thi or Van in the personal name is interesting because it is how some Viet people's names can have 4 words (1 for the family name, 1 for the middle name, 2 for the given name).

Anyway, I remember reading a novel called The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh, and I just paused at the family tree and wondered: "Where is the Thi middle name in all these women? I thought it was supposed to be common? Also, is that the surname? Why is the surname placed last? If the people didn't go to America, then they wouldn't know of American customs, and they would go by Viet customs."

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know it is meant to be a light-hearted novel about some group of Viet women trying to live through a curse. I just don't know how to make sense of the personal names. Like, is the group of Viet women more non-traditional? Or maybe some Viet families just don't care enough to add a Thi or Van in the personal name? Or maybe the middle name Thi is added but it is irrelevant and the family name and given name are more important? Though, in regards to family names, I have heard that the importance of family names is really a Chinese thing being imposed on the Vietnamese, and historically, the Viets called each other by kinship or given name???