In Russia, everyone has a name, a patronymic and a surname. It's almost the same as everywhere else, except that in Russia (as in most other Slavic cultures as well as Middle Eastern cultures) your "middle name" (patronymic) is your FATHER'S first name, with an -ich attached (for men) or an -ovna/-evna attached for women.

So:

Yuri Andreevich Zhivago is the son of Andrei
Antonina Alexandrovna Gromeko is the daughter of Alexander
Viktor Ippolitovich Komarovsky is the son of Ippolit

and so on.

Furthermore, in Russia, as pretty much everywhere else, people have nicknames. Imagine a Russian reading a book where someone is called John, only to see him called Jack. Who's Jack? How is he related to John? the Russian reader might ask.

Similarly, seeing Lara for Larissa, Tonya for Antonina, Yura for Yuri, Pasha for Pavel, Shura for Alexandra, Misha for Dmitry, etc., can be difficult at first. However, just realize that the names are nicknames.