Lena B Katz
A Russian name generally has three parts: a given name, a patronymic, and a family name.
The given name is like a first name in English. Most male names end in a consonant, and most female names end in the sound "a".
The patronymic is the one that's unusual from an English perspective. It's name that is based on the person's father's name. It's generally formed by taking the father's name and adding -ovich for a man, or adding -ovna for a woman (these endings can change to -yevich and -yevna if the father's name ends in a "soft" consonant).
The family name is like a surname in English. For a woman, the sound "a" is tacked on to the end of the surname, but it's considered to be the same surname. There are also some surnames that end in -sky (or -ski or -skiy, depending on the transliteration). This changes to -skaya for a woman.
Some examples:
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Blue GrapesWhat you have are probably concord grapes. The grapes welches uses for the dark grape juice. -= Exported from BigOven =- Grape Jelly Jelly recipes leave little room for variation. Do not double...
His given name is Vladimir, his father's name is also Vladimir, and his family name is Putin. His daughter is Yekaterina Vladimirovna Putina.
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova
Her given name is Anna, her father's name is Sergei, and her family name is Kournikova (or Kurnikova if you want a more accurate transliteration). Her father's last name would have been Kournikov.
Help: Blue GrapesWayne replied: Grape cake (recipe below) Pickled grapes (I can post recipe if anybody wants...
The most common way for two adults to refer to each other is by their first name and their patronymic. The patronymic would be dropped only in the case of a very close relationship. Using the last name would generally be seen as being extremely formal.
