The Jude Family One-Name Study is focused on the Jude Family originating in England.  There are three main branches of the family in the United States.  These three branches are located with geographic origins in Kentucky, Maine and Minnesota.  

At this time no variants are included in this study.

English, French, and German: from the vernacular form of the Hebrew personal name Yehuda ‘Judah’ (of unknown meaning). In the Bible, this is the name of Jacob’s eldest son. It was not a popular name among Christians in medieval Europe, because of the associations it had with Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Among Jews, however, the Hebrew name and its reflexes in various Jewish languages (such as Yiddish Yude) have been popular for generations, and have given rise to many Jewish surnames. French: name for a Jew, Old French jude (Latin Iudaeus, Greek Ioudaios, from Hebrew Yehudi ‘member of the tribe of Judah’). English: from a pet form of Jordan.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press

Additionally, the Kentucky branch of the Jude family was alternatively known as the Frederick family.  The Frederick/Jude name changed back and forth in the 1800s and early 1900s in Virginia and eastern Kentucky.  It originated as Jude, changed to Frederick, and then changed back to Jude.  Various family stories identify the reason for the changes.  

The surname appears in census records from 1800 on in the US and from 1841 and in the UK.  Here is the distribution of the surname from the 1880/1881 in England, Scotland, Canada and the U.S.

Surprisingly the global distribution of the name in 2014 as identified on forebears.io shows wide disbursement of the name across all continents, with a strong population in Nigeria and neighboring countries in Africa.  You might check this out here.

There is a small Jude surname project located at FamilyTreeDNA.  All are welcome to join. 

Family Tree DNA Jude Surname Project