The name 'van der Heijden'

The meaning and origin of the name of the family 'van der Heijden' must be seen as 'living on or near the heather'. There was a lot of heather in the area called the Kempen, part of the province Noord Brabant in the 'Southern Netherlands'. Because many people lived there, also many people called themselves or were called 'van der Heijden'. So not all people carrying this name, are members of the same family. There are also a number of variations of the surname. Known variations are:

Van den Eden, Van den Eeden, Van der Eide, Eidmann, Van Eijden, Van der Eijden, Eijdman, Hedeman, Hedemann, Van der Heden, Van Hee, Van der Hee, Heede, Van der Heeden, (Hei), De Hei, Op Hei, Van der Hei, Heida, Heidanus, Heide, De Heide, Ter Heide, Van der Heide, Heidema, Heideman, Heidemann, Heidemans, Heiden, De Heiden, Van der Heiden, Heidenis, Heideveld, Heidinga, Heidingsfeld, Heidman, Heidmann, Heidmeijer, Heidsma, Heidstra, Heidt, Heidtmann, Heidveldt, (Heij), De Heij, Op Heij, Van der Heij, Heijda, Heijdanus, Heijde, De Heijde, Op der Heijde, Ter Heijde, Van der Heijde, Heijdeman, Heijdemann, Heijden, Ter Heijden, Van Heijden, Heijdens, Heijdt, Van der Heijdt, (Heije), Heijt, Heijtman, Heit, Heite, Heitman, Heitmann, Heitmans, Van der Hijde, Van der Hijden, Van der Reiden, Van der Reijden, Verhei, Verheide, Verheiden, Verheij, Verheijde, Verheijden, Verheijdt, Verheije, Verheijen, Verheijke, Verhij, Verhijde, Verhijden, Verreij, Verreijen, Verrij.

In the 1947 census 10,336 people in the Netherlands were count with the surname 'van der Heijden' alone. It might be clear that there is hardly any relationship between all those people.

Heather near Eersel, Noord Brabant, NL	Reise- en Zak-atlas, Jan Christiaan Sepp, Amsterdam 1773

The story

The story goes back to the second half of the 1600's.

This branch of the 'van der Heijden' family has his roots here in Eersel, where Arnoldus van der Heijden lived around 1665. His son Simon Wilhelmus van der Heijden (1688) moved to Valkensweerth (Valkenswaard today). Eersel and Valkensweerth are situated south-west of Eindhoven, close to the Belgian border. However Belgium did not exist during that time. Unknown (yet) is the occupation of these people. They could be farmers but labourers is also reasonable. After some generations we see Wilhelmus Jacobus van der Heijden (1743) in Leiden (famous cloth city during that time) as linen-weaver.

Johannes Jacobus van der Heijden (1778) moves from Leiden to Stompwijk where the family stays for some generations.
 

Wilhelmus Gerardus van der Heijden (1884) as carpenter working for the Dutch Railways in Haarlem (1929)	Jacobus Gijsbertus Gerardus van der Heijden (1909) owned a packages carrier company in Leidschendam during the pre-war period	Jacobus Gijsbertus Gerardus van der Heijden (1909) and Elisabeth Cornelia Koot (1914) in front of their cigar shop in The Hague