VietNamNet Bridge - In the next 10 years, Nguyen – the Vietnamese surname - is expected to "surpass" Smith to become the most popular last name in cities in Australia.

Nguyen will pass Smith, the most common surname in Australia since 1903 in Melbourne and Sydney, in over the next 10 years. This shows the difference between the city and the countryside, demographer and social commentator Bernard Salt told the News newswire in Australia.

Vietnam’s Nguyen is now the 13th most popular surname in Australia, according to data from the web pages Ancestry.com.au and White Pages Online 2013.

The data also shows that Nguyen is the 3rd most common last name in Sydney, the second in Melbourne and the seventh in Adelaide.

A report of the world geography association in 2012 showed that Nguyen is the world's No. 4 common surname after Li (or Lee), Zhang and Wang of China.

“The popularity of the Nguyen family in Vietnam has expanded outside the country, along with migrants. Nguyen is the 54th most common surname in France, the 57th in the U.S., according to the 2000 census, and it is also the most common Asian surname," the report said.

Nguyen is also the most common surname in Vietnam, with nearly 40 percent of the population with Nguyen surname.

It is said that in the Tran Dynasty from the 11th through 13th century, many people of the Ly surname changed their last name into Nguyen.

Nguyen Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in Vietnam.

Le Ha