Dai Viet Su Luoc is the oldest historical book of Vietnam that mentions the origin of the Trung Sisters. According to this book, during the time when Vietnam was still Giao Chi, the Trung Sisters were twin sisters (born on the first day of the eighth month of the year Giap Tuat - the 14th year of the Christian era), the older sister's name was Trung Trac, the younger sister's name was Trung Nhi.

The Trung sisters' father died early, and they were raised by their mother, Mrs. Man Thien (granddaughter of King Hung). When they grew up, the Trung sisters were both talented in both literature and martial arts, loved the people, and had a strong will to revolt.

These were the first two female heroes of the Vietnamese people when they together raised an army to drive out the Eastern Han army, establishing a nation with its capital in Me Linh. After driving out the foreign invaders, the elder sister, Trung Trac, proclaimed herself queen, and was recorded in history as Trung Nu Vuong.

Based on the records in Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, the Trung Sisters were descendants of Lac generals in Me Linh, so their surname is temporarily called Lac.

During the Van Lang - Au Lac - Nam Viet period, the kings' and nobles' surnames were often based on the country's or ethnic group's name. Hung Vuong, also recorded in history as Lac Vuong, as well as the Lac Hou and Lac Tuong, had the surname Lac, which originated from the name Lac Viet. Like Thuc Phan, whose surname was Thuc because he was originally from the country of Thuc, and was also a descendant of the king of Thuc. Trieu Da had the surname Trieu because he came from the country of Trieu.

The issue of what surname the Trung Sisters had created a public fever recently when many experts said that, at the beginning of the Christian era, Vietnam did not have a surname. These experts hypothesized that the Trung Sisters did not have a specific surname.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quoc Su, former lecturer of the History Department, Hanoi Pedagogical University, once analyzed: "In the early 1940s, our country did not have a family name, but children followed their mother's lineage - their maternal lineage. It was only possible to determine that the Trung Sisters followed the Hung King's lineage."

At that time, our country followed the Hung King lineage, the matriarchal system was still highly respected, so children often followed the maternal lineage, while the paternal lineage was not clear. Therefore, we can temporarily assume that the Trung Sisters had the Hung surname.

According to Mr. Su, the two Trung sisters were not originally named Trung. In the past, the word Trung was originally the word "egg". Trung Trac and Trung Nhi meant the best eggs and the second best eggs. According to the book "Famous Generals of Vietnam", the names of these two queens were Trung Chac and Trung Nhi, which were translated into Chinese as Trung Trac and Trung Nhi.

According to Professor Nguyen Khac Thuan, Vietnamese people in general and Hai Ba Trung in particular did not have a family name at that time. Their mother was said to have been named Tran Thi Doan, which was actually a name given by the gods later (around the 17th and 18th centuries). The name Man Thien originally meant "good Man people", possibly given by the Han people.

The names of the two ladies, originated from the traditional silk weaving profession of Vietnam, similar to the naming of fish by the later Tran Dynasty kings who originated from fishing. In the past, when raising silkworms, good cocoons were called "kén xac" (chác cocoons), inferior cocoons were called "kén nhi" (chác cocoons); good silkworm eggs were called "trưng xac" (chác eggs), inferior silkworm eggs were called "trưng nhi" (chác eggs). Therefore, according to the book Danh tuong Viet Nam (Vietnamese Generals), the names of the two ladies were very simple: Trừng Chàc (chác eggs) and Trừng Nhi (nhị eggs), which were transcribed in Chinese as Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị.

Kim Anh