What was the surname of the Trung Sisters?

Based on records in the Complete Annals of Dai Viet, the Trung Sisters belonged to the lineage of Lac generals in Me Linh, so their surname is tentatively called Lac.

During the Văn Lang - Âu Lạc - Nam Việt periods, the surnames of kings and nobles were often derived from the names of their countries or ethnic groups. Hùng Vương, also known as Lạc Vương in historical records, as well as the Lạc lords and generals, had the surname Lạc, derived from Lạc Việt. Similarly, Thục Phán had the surname Thục because he was of the Thục kingdom and a descendant of the Thục king. Triệu Đà had the surname Triệu because he came from the Triệu kingdom.

The question of what surname the Trung Sisters bore has sparked a public debate recently, with many experts suggesting that Vietnam did not have surnames at the beginning of the Common Era. These experts hypothesized that the Trung Sisters did not have a specific surname.

According to Associate Professor Pham Quoc Su, former lecturer at the History Department of Hanoi Pedagogical University , "In the early 40s, our country did not yet have surnames; children followed their mother's lineage - the maternal line. It can only be determined that the Trung Sisters followed the Hung King lineage."

At that time, Vietnam followed the Hung Dynasty, and the matriarchal system was still highly valued, so children usually followed the maternal lineage, while the paternal lineage was unclear. Therefore, it can be tentatively assumed that the Trung Sisters bore the Hung surname.

According to Mr. Su, the Trung sisters were not originally named Trung. In the past, the word "Trung" came from the word "egg." Trung Trac and Trung Nhi referred to the best and second-best eggs. According to the book "Famous Vietnamese Generals," the names of these two queens were originally "Trứng Chắc" and "Trứng Nhì," which were transliterated into Chinese as Trung Trac and Trung Nhi.

According to Professor Nguyen Khac Thuan, Vietnamese people in general, and the Trung Sisters in particular, did not have surnames at that time. Their mother is said to have been named Tran Thi Doan, but this was actually a name given later in the genealogical records (around the 17th or 18th century). The name Man Thien originally meant "good Man people," possibly a name given by the Han Chinese.

The names of the two sisters originate from Vietnam's traditional silk weaving craft, similar to how the Trần dynasty kings, who later came from fishing families, named themselves after fish species. In the past, silkworms raised good cocoons were called "strong cocoons," while inferior ones were called "second-grade cocoons"; good silkworm eggs were called "strong eggs," and inferior ones were called "second-grade eggs." Therefore, according to the book "Famous Vietnamese Generals," the two sisters' names were simply "Strong Eggs" and "Second-Grade Eggs," which, when translated into Chinese, are Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị.

Kim Anh