The way people address each other in Russia says a lot

Do you like the classics?

Many read Russian classics at an early age.

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, 

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina,

The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov,

The Captain's Daughter by Pushkin

There are so many novels to read.

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Have you ever noticed that in novels the characters have names like Ivan Ivanovich, Sergey Anatolyevich or Anna Arkadyevna?

Those ending in "ic" and "na" are surnames, aren't they?

No! These are father's names!

Ivan Ivanovich means Ivan, the son of Ivan. Sergey Anatolyevich means Sergey, Anatoly's son.

Anna Arkadyevna means Anna, Arkady's daughter. In fact, Anna's last name is Karenina from the title of the novel.

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Russians have been using this system for centuries. Ahmet's son Mehmet, Hasan's daughter Ayşe!

Of course they have surnames, but they usually address each other by their fathers' names, even in everyday life.

They do this partly out of respect.

It is not considered appropriate here to call someone by their first name, especially if they have reached a certain age.

"Tatyana Nikolayevna, how are you today?"

That is, "Mrs. Tatyana, how are you today?" says someone who wants to ask how Mrs. Tatyana is doing.

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This form of address is also very important in official meetings. 

You do not put "Mr." or "Mrs." after your name like we do, you address the employer directly with your first name and father's name, for example you address the employer's representative as Aleksandrovich.

You can also use your surname, then you have to say "Mr. Rümin".

But Aleksandrovich is a more appropriate form of address.

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It was very strange for me at first.

I couldn't remember the names of my fathers, but now I'm used to it.

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So what do you do if you don't know your father's name?

The answer is simple, you ask!

You ask them politely how you would like to be addressed.

Because they are used to it, they will understand that you are asking for their father's name and will tell you.

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Although, working with us Turks, some people say that you can only say Sergey, but I still insist that it is okay when we are alone, but not in the presence of others, then they will say it.

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When they address us, especially in meetings, it's with "sir". They have also gotten used to it. 

Sometimes they add our surnames next to our names, maybe they feel this is more appropriate for their own organization.

Naturally, this is a bit awkward.

Has anyone ever addressed you by your first and last name?

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Before the surname law was enacted, we had nicknames, such as Ahmet the cripple, Hasan the lame, or Mehmet from Bursa.

Some people registered these nicknames as surnames.

However, these surnames ending with "son" sound very strange to me. 

I also have a surname ending with "son". But I still find it strange.

The name of the place or city and the surname is okay, but when you add "son" to it, it seems to me that it is not very appropriate, especially for women.

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By the way, if you noticed above, Russians make this distinction. They put the suffix "iç" next to the father's name for men and "na" for women.

This is because in the Russian language, women have different colloquialisms, i.e. different suffixes that they add to words, while men have different ones.

This masculine and feminine suffixing of words also varies depending on the word, so it is a very complicated language.

Nevertheless, they are still a male-dominated society, especially because they use the father's name in their forms of address.

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Coming back to us, since our surnames were created by a law, should we make a change in the surname law?

I am talking about our suffix "son".

Maybe it would be useful to remove this suffix?

Couldn't it be possible to use the suffix "daughter" instead of "son", at least for women?

If these things can be done by law, why not?

I think this issue can be brought up in parliament!

Mine is just an idea of course! 

A humble idea!

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.