Russian naming conventions

Factual Questions
1

It is my understanding that under Russian naming conventions, everyone has a given name, a patronymic name, and a surname. The patronymic name is your father’s given name, ending with the prefix “ovich” (if you are male) or “ovna” (if you are female.) So far so good. My question is: What if paternity is unclear or in doubt? Is the child not given a Patronymic name? Or assigned a name indicating the father is the Russian equivalent of John Doe? In either case, does this have the potential to stigmatize the child?

2

IANARussian.

This has been asked a few times before. The response from Russians is that one of a couple different things might happen.

  1. The mother gives the child her father’s patronymic. That is, Maria Vladimirovna (Maria daughter of Vladimir) might name her fatherless son Viktor Vladimirovich.

  2. The mother picks a male name out of a hat. So Maria Vladimirovna’s fatherless son might be Viktor Ivanovich (Ivan being a generic name).

  3. More rarely, a matronymic of sorts will be formed from the mother’s name.

  4. The priest who baptizes the child will give his name as a patronymic. So baby Ivan is baptized by a priest named Anatoly, henceforth he is Ivan Anatolyevich.