By the early 19th century century, the Nguyen Dynasty seized power in Vietnam (which unified the country), prompting yet another wave of surname changes and adoptions. That dynasty, which awarded their surname to many people, ruled the country until the end of World War II. Esther Tran Le, a Vietnamese-American journalist based in New York, said that the name ‘Nguyen’ was the last name of the last dynasty of Vietnamese emperors.