Quote Originally Posted by mudrets View Post
Are there any Russian parents officially naming their children, for instance, Misha Petrov or Nadya Petrova? Does anyone skip the patronymic all together?
I've never heard of it, and such a name in a official document will sound distinctly weird. If children with such names exist, I predict a lot of explaining for them to do in the future. They will have to explain all the time that these are their "full" names, not diminutives, when filling official forms.

I believe, that Russians who prefer Western ways would name their kids with Western or exotic names. not with diminutives of regular "Russian" names. Such trend existed even in the USSR - my school military instructor (who was an ex-military himself) was named Harry. Combined with his very traditional Russian patronymic it was rather funny (in a good way).