Phạm is the fourth most common Vietnamese family name. But other Asian groups also have Phams.
Phạm is the Sino-Vietnamese reading of the Chinese character 范. The same character is used to write the Chinese surname Fan and the Korean surname Beom (범). As with other East Asian surnames derived from Chinese, it does not necessarily imply familial relations with those sharing the same surname. The surname Phạm means "iron" in Vietnamese.
Although Phạm is not as common a surname among Vietnamese populations as Nguyễn, it remains prevalent. Among the global ethnic Vietnamese population, it is the 5th most common name accounting for 5% of the total 75 million. In the United States, Phạm is the #1455 most common last name comprising about 0.008% of all last names. It is the 951st most common in France with 5,509 persons sharing that name. It is ranked 943rd in the United States Social Security Index.
Notable people with the surname Phạm include:
Science
Phạm Tuân, first Vietnamese cosmonaut and the first Asian in space
Frédéric Pham, Vietnamese French mathematician (ref. Brieskorn–Pham manifold)
Politics and Military
Phạm Công Trứ, mandarin of the Le and Trinh dynasties
Phạm Ngũ Lão, prominent general under Trần Hưng Đạo
Phạm Văn Đồng Prime Minister of North Vietnam (1955–1976) and reunified Vietnam (1976–1987)
Hung Pham, politician from Alberta, Canada
Pham Le Bong, foreign minister to Bảo Đại (last emperor of Vietnam)
Phạm Ngọc Thảo, colonel in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, communist spy
Phạm Phú Quốc, Vietnam Air Force pilot in 1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing
Phạm Văn Đồng, ARVN general
Phạm Văn Phú, ARVN general
Arts and entertainment
Phạm Duy, composer and songwriter
Phạm Đình Chương, composer and songwriter
Linh Dan Pham, French actress
Hoa Pham, Australian author
Quang X. Pham, author
Andrew X. Pham, author
Phạm Thị Hoài, author
Phạm Xuân Thái, Vietnamese linguist
Phạm Xuân Ẩn, Vietnamese journalist and communist spy from South Vietnam
Phạm Xuân Nguyên, pen name Ngân Xuyên, Vietnamese writer and literary translator
Khoi Pham, artist for Marvel Comics
Elyzabeth Pham, Miss Wisconsin USA 1999
Thierry Pham, professional tennis player
Religious figures
Phạm Công Tắc, first twelve disciples of Cao Dai
Phạm Minh Mẫn Cardinal Priest & Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City in the Roman Catholic Church.
Fictional characters
Pham Nuwen, the protagonist of Vernor Vinge's Hugo Award winning science fiction series, A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky
Pham Tai, protagonist of the 18th century epic poem, Phạm Tải – Ngọc Hoa
Pham Thi La, a character in the Muv-Luv spin-off series Schwarzesmarken.
Other
Nina Pham, U.S. nurse who became the first victim in the U.S. to acquire the Ebola virus disease through transmission in the U.S. during the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak
