Russia is a rather fascinating country to study, I have to admit it was always my favorite subject in school. The only problem I had with it was that the subject was always heavily biased on what the author wanted the reader to base their political views upon. Why bother addressing the real issues with the country when you portray certain views as the typical beliefs of a group rather than those of a tiny subset of it?
-sigh-
Anyway, thanks for considering, and sorry for causing the confusion
(yep, Alex will do that to ya, jk). o(^^o)(o^^)o
Edit: Lol, almost forgot the patronymics, are you familiar with Russian naming conventions?
Anna(russian diminutives being 'Anya' or 'Nyura') Ivanovna(daughter of Ivan) Zakharova
Regular forms: Anya; Nyura.
Tender forms: Anechka, Annushka; Nyurochka, Nyusha.
Somewhere between regular and tender: Anyuta.
Rude forms: An'ka; Nyurka.
Alexander Pinkerton
Regular: Alik.
Tender and rude simultaneously: Al'ka.
In Russia, when you're referring to someone in a formal setting, you don't just use their first name, but their first name and patronymic, i.e. "Anna Ivanovna" or their diminutive. Note that unlike in the West, dimunitive names are never used in formal situations — only full ones. Oddly, even though addressing a person by the first name and patronymic is very formal, addressing them with the patronymic alone is seen as highly informal, even less formal than addressing others by just their first name.
When it comes to name orders, Russian does not stick to just one, unlike English or Japanese. The most formal order is family name first, followed by given name, followed by patronymic (e.g. Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich). However, this order is only used on official documents and when introducing or referring to people in a very formal setting (for instance, dinner at the Kremlin or a courtroom in session), never as a direct form of address. This does not differ too much from the equivalent Western usage; think of the situations someone might use the phrasing "Smith, John Michael," and you have a rough (but hardly complete) idea when "Zakharova Anna Ivanova" might be used in Russia. The more Western order of given name-patronymic-family name (Anna Ivanova Zakharova) is a less official, but more commonly used way of giving someone's full name. When the patronymic is left out both the Western (Anna Zakharova) and Eastern (Zakharova Anna) orders are acceptable. The media nowadays uses the Western order almost exclusively (which also means that most official anime dubs reverse the Japanese names, just like they do in the West), while in schools and colleges the Eastern order is generally preferred. The only strict rule in Russian naming orders is that the patronymic can only be placed immediately after the given name (so "Anna Zakharova Ivanova" is always unacceptable). The surname alone is used in some formal situations as surname and first letters of name and patronymic in many documents. It assumes authority of the caller, such as of teacher in a class.
The Russian equivalents to Mr. and Mrs. aren't really used save in older literature. Lack of an easy pronoun to call someone actually became a problem a few years ago. "Gospodin" or "gospozha" (equivalents to Mr. and Mrs. respectively) were only recently returned to use and are used mostly by businessmen or civil servants to address each other, very formally. (Don't call a Russian the equivalent of "citizen"; that's how
cops address a perp, so it sounds offensive.) The address "comrade" is used only in the army and in the Communist Party, which works in this setting. The most common forms of address between common people are the Russian equivalents of "man", "young man", "woman" or "girl". Note that "girl" ("devushka" ) is MUCH more preferable then "woman" ("zhenshina"
wink as the latter is used for middle aged women and may and frequently will be interpreted as connoting significant age and thus offensive (in this sense, it's a lot like Ma'am for people residing outside of the Southern United States). Children mostly address unfamiliar adults as "dyadya/dyadenka" and "tyotya/tyotenka". These words literally mean "uncle" and "aunt", but they do not imply family ties in this case. Similarly, in the predominately Muslim regions of Russia and the former USSR it may be customary for young and middle-aged people to address all elderly people as "father" and "mother", saying either "otets" and "mat'" in Russian, or a corresponding term in the local language.
When writing full Russian names in English, you either skip the patronymic, initial both names, or do it in full. Usually. Some people get the "Name Patronymic-initial Surname" treatment, most famously Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, frequently called "Vladimir V. Putin" in the Western press.
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