An early version. A working version that established the distinction between the two sides of the family. Consolidated into the summarizing master document.
The two sides
The father's side: Tsirlis / Rabinovitz
Father's mother Tsirli[source], a midwife in Lyady (the affectionate surname "Tsirlis" is after her)
Mother's mother (grandmother) daughter of Menachem-Mendel Sheveliov[source](given name undocumented)
The origin of the name "Alexander Ziskind"
The contribution of this version: the finding that AZR's name came from the mother's side. He was named after R. Alexander Ziskind Brook, an ancestor on the side of his mother Golda, not the father's side. This is an example of the importance of distinguishing between the sides: without it, the origin of the name remains obscure.
Methodological distinction: both sides are blood relations. Separating them makes it possible to trace the origin of each component of his identity (given name from the mother, family name from the father) and to identify precisely where each line stops.
Update from a primary source (see "Autobiography" §8): "Tsirlis" is not merely an affectionate name but a matronymic after the grandmother Tsirli (father's mother), and hence the grandfather "Nissan Tsirlis" and the father "Hirshe Tsirlis". R. Nissan and Tsirli were a married couple (paternal grandfather and grandmother): Nissan, one of the notables of Lyady, completed the entire Talmud once every three years, died of cholera in 5627/1866; Tsirli, a midwife and woman of charity to whom the Rebbe R. Zalman (son of the "Tzemach Tzedek") in Lyady drew close (a communal Chabad connection).