Re: Russian names (was: Re: A perfect day...)

On Wed, 2 Feb 2000 12:47:09 -0500, John Cowan <jcowan@...>
wrote:


>In the American press, there are occasionally interviews
>with (non-official) Russians who don't give their last name but only
>their first name and patronymic.  This is clearly understood
>by the reporter as a desire for anonymity: an American who does
>not give his last name is trying to be untraceable.  I wonder if
>this is being incorrectly carried over to the Russian context,
>or if in fact this means the same thing?
Hard to say without a live example...

I think that in Russia, people in the street will mostly give their
first names or first name + patronymic, but not last names, if addressed
e. g. by a TV reporter.

Is it different in America?


Basilius