Le is a
romanization
In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...
of several rare
East Asia
East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
n surnames and a common Vietnamese surname.
It is a fairly common surname in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, ranked 975th during the
1990 census and 368th during the
2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-common surname among America's
Asian and Pacific Islander population,
predominantly from its Vietnamese use.
It was also reported among the top 200 surnames in
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, based on a survey of that province's
Registered Persons Database of
Canadian health card recipients as of the year 2000.
Origins of surname
Vietnamese
Lê is a common
Vietnamese surname (
third most common), written in
Chữ Hán
( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...
. It is pronounced in the
Hanoi dialect and in the
Saigon dialect. It is usually pronounced in English, with it being commonly mistaken for another surname, with similar spelling and pronunciation in English,
Lý.
Chinese
Mandarin
Le is the
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
romanization of the Chinese surname (written
乐 in
Simplified Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized Chinese characters, character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of ...
and 樂 in
Traditional Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to written Chinese, write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education (Taiwan), Ministry of Educat ...
); it is Lok in Cantonese.
Minnan
Lê or Le is the
POJ romanization of the
Chinese surname
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, ...
Li (, ''Lí'')
People with the surname
Vietnamese
;Lê
*
Anterior Lê dynasty
*The
Lê dynasty
*
Lê Công Vinh, football player
*
Lê Hoàn, founding emperor of the Anterior Lê dynasty
*
Dinh Q Lê
*
Lê Duẩn
*
Lê Đức Anh
*
Dowager Empress Gia Từ, originally of the Lê clan of
Vĩnh Lộc District
*
Lê Hằng Phấn
*
Lê Huỳnh Đức, football player
*
Lê Khả Phiêu
* Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như, Vietnamese-American singer known as
Như Quỳnh
*
Lê Lợi, founding emperor of the Lê dynasty
*
Nguyên Lê
Nguyên Lê (Vietnamese: ''Lê Thành Nguyên''; born 14 January 1959) is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer.
He has released albums ...
*
Lê Minh Đảo
*
Lê Nhân Tông
*
Lê Quan Ninh, French percussionist
*
Lê Quang Liêm, chess player
*
Lê Quang Tung, commander of ARVN Special Forces
*
Lê Quý Đôn
*
Lê Văn Duyệt, general of
Gia Long
Gia Long (Chữ Hán, Chữ hán: 嘉隆) ( (''Hanoi, North''), (''Ho Chi Minh City, South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynas ...
and viceroy of southern Vietnam
*
Lê Văn Hưng
*
Lê Văn Khôi, adopted son of Le Van Duyet
*
Lê Văn Thiêm
*
Lê Thái Tông, second emperor of the Lê dynasty
*
Lê Thánh Tông, fifth emperor of the Lê dynasty
*
Lê Tuấn Hùng
*
Lê Long Đĩnh, the last emperor of the Anterior Lê dynasty
;Le
*
Annie Le
*
Cung Le (born 1972), Vietnamese-born American martial artist
*
Duy-Loan Le
*
Hoang Le
*
Linda Le, Vietnamese-American cosplayer and model
*
Michelle Le
*
Minh Le
*
Tony Le-Nguyen
*
Thuy Thu Le
*
Tuan Le
*
Danny "Shiphtur" Le, Canadian ''League of Legends'' player
Chinese
*
Le Jingyi, a former
swimmer from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
who won the gold medal in the 100 meters freestyle at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
,
USA
Other
*
Nhi Le (born 1995) German journalist, speaker, discussion moderator and author.
*
Tamara Le, American politician
See also
*
Le (disambiguation)
*
Lí (黎)
*
Lee (Korean surname)
Lee, I, or Yi () is the List of Korean surnames, second-most-common surname in Korea, behind Kim (Korean surname), Kim (). As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were 7,306,828 people by this name in South Korea or 14.7% of the populatio ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le
Surnames
Chinese-language surnames
Vietnamese-language surnames
Hokkien-language surnames
Surnames of Vietnamese origin
vi:Lê (họ)