(from Russia)
One of the people, commenting that post, was Dmitry, who wrote,
"Probably some revolutionary feminists desire to change that to Helen-Mary (let us imagine that name of her mother is Mary), but that seems to be unrealistic". I tend to regard it as a silly joke. There are no signs that anyone wants to change that tradition of addressing people by their first name followed by the patronymic name derived from the father's name. For instance, if the person you are adressing, has a first name Maria, and her father's name is Ivan, we'd address her Maria Ivanovna. If the person's name is Nikolay and his father's name is Stepan, then we should address him Nikolay Stepanovich.
That way to address people by their first names followed by patronymic names is traditional and has existed for many centuries, it's a polite and formal way to address people here. Among friends you may call them by their first names, the same would apply for kids (we'd address them by their first names).
PS. We call our teachers by their first names followed by patronymic names.
