Hien

♀ Girl

How to Pronounce Hien

Pronounced HEE-en /hiˈɛn/Medium

Meaning: Hien is the anglicized spelling of the Vietnamese name 'Hien' (properly written with a diacritic), meaning 'gentle', 'meek', or 'good-natured'. It is a warm virtue name used for both girls and boys, here a girl's name, carried to the United States by Vietnamese families after 1975.Medium

In 30 seconds: Hien is a Vietnamese name meaning 'gentle' or 'good-natured'. A soft virtue name, it came with Vietnamese families after the mid-seventies and stayed quietly rare in American records.

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Origin MediumVietnamese

MeaningHien is the anglicized spelling of the Vietnamese name 'Hien' (properly written with a diacritic), meaning 'gentle', 'meek', or 'good-natured'. It is a warm virtue name used for both girls and boys, here a girl's name, carried to the United States by Vietnamese families after 1975.

U.S. rank (2010)#18007 ↘ Falling

2010 U.S. births5 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)

Peak year1984

Total births (all-time)≈ 327

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Hien is an English rendering of a Vietnamese given name meaning 'gentle' or 'good-natured', one of many Vietnamese names that name a hoped-for quality of character. It reached the United States with post-1975 refugee families.

American records show it only in small numbers, no more than a few dozen a year around the mid-eighties, almost entirely in Vietnamese-American families. Its single soft syllable in Vietnamese is smoothed into two for English speakers.

Did you know? Hien is a Vietnamese virtue name meaning 'gentle' or 'meek' - the kind of quiet, hopeful quality Vietnamese parents have long chosen to wish upon a child.

Overall data confidence 65%

References - Vietnamese given name Hien — 'gentle/meek'; post-1975 cohort

Variations

HeinHyenHienh

Nicknames

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Famous Bearers

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If you like Hien…

Tram— another Vietnamese girl's name of the same cohort

Mai— a soft, brief Vietnamese name

Linh— a gentle one-syllable Vietnamese name

Thao— a Vietnamese girl's name from the same refugee-era wave

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Hien mean?

Hien is a Vietnamese name meaning 'gentle', 'meek', or 'good-natured'.

How do you pronounce Hien?

It's said HEE-en /hiˈɛn/.

Is Hien a boy or girl name?

Hien is used as a girl's name.

How popular is Hien?

Hien has always been very rare in the United States, carried mainly by Vietnamese-American families since the later nineteen-seventies.