The

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

Heiden has a number of different spellings including Haydn, Heide, Heid, Heidling, Heideling, Heidt, Heyde. The toponym exists as ''Heiden'' in a number of places in Germany and Switzerland.. This webpage is a partial transcription of .. As a nickname, it comes from the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

''heiden'' meaning "Heathen". The Middle High German ''heiden'' in turn comes from the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''heidano'', a derivative of ''heida'', "heath". Many have taken the name ''Haydn'' as a given name, after the composer

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, whose name comes from the use of ''heiden'' as a nickname to mean "heathen".. As an Ashkenazi Jewish name it may be a shortened form of placenames with the compound ''Heide'', such as Heidenberg. It may also be another use of the nickname ''Heida'', meaning "heathen". As a Dutch name it is a shortened version of the surname Vanderheyden.

People with the surname

* Heiden family of Nuremberg, 16th and 17th century German family of musicians, musical instrument makers, and copper merchants *

Lodewijk van Heiden Lodewijk Sigismund Vincent Gustaaf Reichsgraf van Heiden (; ; 6 September 1773 – 17 October 1850) was a Dutch naval officer and Orangism (Dutch Republic), Orangist who went into exile from the Batavian Republic and served in the Russian N ...

(1773), Russian admiral **

Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden Count Fyodor Logginovich Heiden (born Friedrich Moritz Reichsgraf van Heiden; , tr. ; – ), better known as Count Fyodor Logginovich van Heiden, was a Russian military commander of German- Dutch ancestry who served in the Imperial Russian A ...

(1821), his son, military leader * Anton Heiden (1960), former water polo player from The Netherlands * Bernhard Heiden (1910–2000), German-American composer and music teacher * Beth Heiden (born 1959), American athlete * Erhard Heiden (1901–1933), an early member of the Nazi Party and the third commander of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) *

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at th ...

(born 1958), American speed skater * Frederick Heiden (1821–1900) governor general of Finland * Konrad Heiden (1901–1966), journalist and historian of Nazi Germany * Ira Heiden (born 1966), American television and film actor * Siem Heiden (1905–1993), Dutch speed skater *

Sona Heiden Sona Heiden is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and film producer. Filmography ;As actress Production Television References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heiden, Sona Indian beauty pageant winners Actresses in Telugu cinema Livi ...

, Indian film actress and model * Steve Heiden (born 1976), American football player

References

{{surname, Heiden German-language surnames