The feature is so named in order to preserve the historical memory of the area. While sailing through this strait on 6 February 1821, the Russian explorer Thaddeus von Bellingshausen met with the American sealer Nathaniel Palmer, made a description of Livingston Island and named it Smolensk after the Battle of Smolensk, one of the great battles of the Napoleonic Wars.
Islas Livingston y Decepción. Mapa topográfico a escala 1:100000. Madrid: Servicio Geográfico del Ejército, 1991.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD). Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.