Nguyên was born on January 8th, 1894. Nguyên's father was Duệ and his mother was Trinh Nguyễn. His paternal grandparents were Trấn and Thông Nguyễn. He had two brothers and two sisters, named Trường, Măng, Đoan and Tịch. He had a half-brother and a half-sister, named Do and Trang.