February 15, 2005

Hungarian formulation is your surname (father's surname) first, your first name last.

Filipino (Catholic) formulation is your first name, mother's maiden name, then surname. My mother decided not to have this for my sister and I.

Russian formulation - it's unusual to use your 'surname', and what is perceived as a surname is actually a patronymic middle name (a name derived from your father's first name) in its masculine or feminine form. The first name you are addressed by can differ depending on who you are talking to, and what their relationship is to you.

I don't know if that's the way names still work in Russia, but that's the way good old Dostoevsky named people in Crime and Punishment.

Dig those crazy Russians!

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