Volkhov Chudes

Volkhov Chudes were a Finno-Ugric people living along the banks of the Volkhov River. The Volkhov Chudes lived upstream from Staraya Ladoga. Pauli Rahkonen's studies of local toponyms suggest that the Volkhov Chudes spoke a Finnic language.
In the southwest the toponymy has more similarities with Mordvinic and Proto-Finnic, while in the southeast toponymy has similarities with Meryan toponymy. It can be seen that the eastern Volkhov Chudes were very close to Meryans, culturally and linguistically.