Hmong Last Names

The 18 clans behind Hmong last names

Every Hmong surname is a clan name, called xeem in Hmong. The clans usually listed are Chang, Cheng, Chue, Fang, Hang, Her, Khang, Kong, Kue, Lee, Lor, Moua, Pha, Thao, Vang, Vue, Xiong and Yang. Some sources merge or split a name, and local branches exist, but these are the names you will find in nearly every Hmong community. Because there are so few, the list also includes common spelling variants to help you find each clan.

A clan is more than a name. Members regard one another as relatives even when they cannot trace a shared ancestor, and people traditionally do not marry within their own clan. When a Hmong person arrives in a new city, clan members there may offer hospitality, and clan leaders help with funerals, weddings and disputes. Within each clan are smaller lineages that share ancestral rituals, and knowing someone's clan helps place them within a wide web of kinship.

Spelling Hmong clan names in English

Hmong is written with the Romanized Popular Alphabet, developed in Laos in the early 1950s. In that system the final letter marks the tone, so Vang is written Vaj, Yang is Yaj, Xiong is Xyooj, Lee is Lis, Thao is Thoj, Moua is Muas and Lor is Lauj. The familiar English spellings came from Lao and French records and later from refugee paperwork, which is why one clan can appear in several forms.

Common variants include Lee and Ly, Lor and Lo, Vue and Vu, and Moua and Mua. A family's spelling often depends on the official who first wrote it down, so cousins can end up with different forms of the same clan name. Many clan names also correspond to Chinese surnames, such as Yang, Lee, Xiong and Vang with Wang, a reminder of the long history of Hmong communities in southern China.

Hmong names in the United States and beyond

Many Hmong fought alongside the United States during the war in Laos, and after 1975 thousands fled to refugee camps in Thailand before resettling in the United States, France, Australia, Canada and French Guiana. Minnesota, especially St. Paul, California's Central Valley around Fresno and Sacramento, and Wisconsin have large Hmong communities today. In these places a handful of clan names are very common, so Vang, Xiong, Yang and Lee appear again and again in local directories.

Because surnames repeat so often, given names carry much of a person's identity. A Hmong man traditionally receives an adult name, called npe laus, after he marries or has children, and it is added to his birth name. Women traditionally join the husband's clan at marriage, though in the United States many keep their birth surname or use both. When naming a character, choose one clan name and pair it with a Hmong given name such as Pa, Mai, Tou or Neng.