Thái people (Vietnamese: người Thái) in Vietnam, also known as Táy people, are officially recognized by the Vietnamese government as one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups. They are Tai ethnic groups that speak various Tai languages and use the Tai Viet script. They mostly live in the Northwest Region of Vietnam and are culturally and linguistically distinguished from other Tai peoples of Vietnam such as the Nùng and Tày people, who are natives in the Northeast Region. In Vietnam, the Thái nomenclature is composed of several Tai groups, of which the main groups are the Black Tai (Tai Dam, Thái Đen), White Tai (Tai Don, Thái Trắng) and the Red Tai (Tai Daeng, Thái Đỏ). The Tai Lue people are officially classified as a separated group, called Lự. They mostly speak languages in the Chiang Saen branch of the Southwestern Tai languages. Thái people in Vietnam all originate from Yunnan. However, they (Tái minorities in Vietnam) are also different from the Thai people of Thailand although they are both related and speak Kra–Dai languages.
