Vietnam Genealogy

Asia Vietnam

Guide to Vietnam ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Country Information
Vietnam is officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV; Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam. It is on the eastern coast of the Indochina Peninsula of Southeast Asia.

Vietnam was part of the Imperial China Empire for about a thousand years from about 100 BC. It gained independence at the Battle of the Bach Dang river in AD 938, and was then led for hundreds of years by a succession of Vietnamese Royal Dynasties.

With the advent of European colonial imperialism, Vietnam became a territory controlled by the French. It remained that way until WWII, when the Japanese took over the territory for a while. After WWII the Vietnamese fought a series of guerrilla wars with the French, expelling them in 1954.

The country was then effectively split into two countries, North and South Vietnam, the north with a communist idealogy, and the south somewhat more free, but very corrupt.

The two sides entered into a war of aggression, with the USA coming in on the side of the South. That war ended with victory by the North, and Vietnam became a unified, communist, country, in 1975. It remained isolated and impoverished until 1986, when the country opened up to foreign investment, and is now a bustling capitalistic economy but with a Communist style Central Government (patterned after that of Mainland China).

It is a country of dense jungles and an interior of high mountains, requiring the use of terraces, as shown in the picture at the top of the page, to provide level ground for the growing of rice and other food staples.

Vietnam Clickable Map
Genealogy records are kept on the state level in Vietnam. Click on a state below to go to the state Wiki article listing more information.

Provinces and Municipalities
Genealogy records are kept on the province and municipality level in Vietnam. Click on a province or municipality below to go to the province or municipality Wiki article listing more information.

The provinces are subdivided into provincial municipalities (thành phố trực thuộc tỉnh), townships (thị xã) and counties (huyện), which are in turn subdivided into towns (thị trấn) or communes (xã). The centrally controlled municipalities are subdivided into districts (quận) and counties, which are further subdivided into wards (phường).

More Vietnam Research Strategies
Research strategies give guidance on how to research or what records to search for first. Below are additional research strategy Wiki articles for Vietnam.

More Vietnam Research Tools
Research tools can include resources that assist in locating correct records to search and determining the correct locality to search in. Below are links and Wiki articles to research tools in Vietnam. The following is a link to the Vietnamese Government's website about Vietnam.


 * Vietnamese Government's website

To get the website in Vietnamese, go to:


 * Vietnamese

The following link provides some basic information on starting with Vietnam ancestors:

Family Tree Vietnam

For those who may have Chinese origins, the following website may provide name based links:

Wikipedia Chinese surnames

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in resourcing your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research