---
title: "Name variants"
url: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/
lang: en
work: "The Smud Family: A Jewish Family History from Ludza, Latvia to Entre Ríos, Argentina"
author: "Mateo Smud"
licence: CC0-1.0
summary: "They are all the same word. It comes from Žemaitija (Samogitia), a region of Lithuania that the Slavic languages called Żmudź. But that does not turn this table into a list of relatives. Many people left Samogitia and many ended up with this same word, and there are surnames of other origins —Croatian, Polish, Czech— that came to be written the same way."
---
# Name variants

## The surname

- **Zmud** (Змуд) — 1858 — The oldest form of the surname in a document of this research: the census of the Jewish farming colony of Novy Zlatopol, taken on 26 May 1858, records “David Falikov Zmud”. It is also the surname of Leon Moises Zmud, whom family tradition makes Felix's brother. — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zmud/
- **Zhmood** (Zmood, Zhmoot) — no documentary date — The form used by English-language genealogical reconstructions —starting with Chaim Freedman's— for the family in the southern Ukrainian colonies. On this site it is the surname of that generation's entries, but it is not written this way in any of this research's archival documents. — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zhmood/
- **Zhmud** (Жмудь, Жмуд) — 1899 — The form of the surname in the birth record of Meyer —later Marcos Smud—, entered in 1899 in the registers of the Mariupol synagogue: the document that names three generations and joins the Russian branch to the Argentine one. — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zhmud/
- **Zhmuydya** (Zhmudya, Zhmuyda) — no documentary date — The form under which family trees published online name the line's oldest ancestors —Leizer, Yehuda and Alexander— and David. No document of this research shows it: the 1858 census writes Zmud. — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/zhmuydya/
- **Smud** (Smod, Smut) — 1904 — The Argentine form of the surname. It first appears in the Buenos Aires immigration register of December 1904, written “Smud or Smod”, and it is the form the family kept from then on. — https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/name-variants/smud/

Cyrillic: Змуд, Жмудь, Жмудя, Жмуд

They are all the same word. It comes from Žemaitija (Samogitia), a region of Lithuania that the Slavic languages called Żmudź. But that does not turn this table into a list of relatives. Many people left Samogitia and many ended up with this same word, and there are surnames of other origins —Croatian, Polish, Czech— that came to be written the same way.

## People

- Felix Smud: Falik Zhmud · Folke · Folek · Yerakhmiel Falik · Félix
- Malke Noel: Ester Malka · Molke · Malka · María Esther · Esther
- Marcos Smud: Meyer Zhmud · Meir · Meier · Marcos Smud
- Alejandro Smud: Alex · Alexander
- Aida Smud: Eide · Aida Smud
- Koppel Zhmood: Kopel · Kópel · Копель
- Dvorka Abova: Devorah · Dworka · Dvorka Yovel (published trees)
- David Zmud: David Falikov Zmud · David Zhmuyd · David Zhmuydya · Давид
- Chana Zalkova: Khana Reizel · Khana · Chana Reizel · Komesaroff · Komisaruk · Khana Reizel Komisaruk (Freedman)
- Falk Zhmood: Falik · Falko · Shlomo Falk
- Moshe Zhmood: Moshka · Moisés · Мошка
- Manyik Zhmood: Alexander
- Hinda Ana Zhmood: Hinda · Ana · Anna

## Places

- Ludza (Latvia): Lutzin · Lucin · Люцин · Ludzas
- Rassein (Lithuania): Raseiniai · Россиены
- Novy Zlatopol (Ukraine): Novyi Zlatopil · Новый Златополь
- Andreyevka (Ukraine): Andriivka · Андреевка · Андріївка · Tavritch
- Mariupol (Ukraine): Mariúpol · Mariupol · Мариуполь · Маріуполь
- Berdyansk (Ukraine): Berdiansk · Бердянськ
- Nogaysk (Ukraine): now Prymorsk · Ногайск · Приморськ
- Ekaterinoslav (Ukraine): Yekaterinoslav · now Dnipro
- Aleksandrovsk (Ukraine): now Zaporizhzhia · Александровск
- Vitebsk (Belarus): Vítebsk · Vitebsk · Витебск
- Žemaitija (Lithuania): Samogitia · Żmudź · Жмудь
- Paraná · Aranguren · Maciá (Argentina): Entre Ríos province

The Russian Empire provinces named here —Ekaterinoslav, Taurida, Vitebsk— no longer exist under those names. Their territory is now divided between Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus.

Bearing the surname Smud does not mean belonging to this family, not even with the same spelling and the same origin. The only thing that tells one line from another is documentary evidence. See /en/other-smud/.

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The Smud Family · genealogical research by Mateo Smud, published under CC0 1.0. Machine index: https://smud.mateosmud.xyz/en/llms.txt