Volkhov Chudes (волховская чудь) were a Finno-Ugric people living along the banks of the Volkhov River, who spoke a Finnic language. The Volkhov Chudes lived upstream from Staraya Ladoga. Rahkonen's studies of local toponyms comfirm that the Volkhov Chudes spoke a Finnic language. In the southwest the toponymy has more similarities with Mordovic 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.