Show ContentsHeede History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Heede is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived near a hill or near the source of a stream or the head of a valley. The name was originally derived from the Old English heafod, which meant head. The surname Heede belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. Heede may have also been a nickname given to someone with a large head or with some other peculiarity of the head.

Early Origins of the Heede family

The surname Heede was first found in Norfolk, but we must look to Nottinghamshire to find the first listing of the name, Thomas del Heved who was listed there in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. [1] The same roll has lists the spelling as Hedde and the old Anglo-Saxon spelling Heved. (BP)

Early History of the Heede family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Heede research. Another 76 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1275, 1609, 1628, 1637, 1641, 1667, 1679, 1686, 1689 and 1737 are included under the topic Early Heede History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Heede Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Heede family name include Head, Heade, Heads, Heed and others.

Early Notables of the Heede family

More information is included under the topic Early Heede Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ireland Migration of the Heede family to Ireland

Some of the Heede family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 121 words (9 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Heede migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Heede surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Heede Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Francis Heede, who landed in Virginia in 1650 [2]
Heede Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Henry Heede, who arrived in Indiana
  • Charles Heede, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1851

Contemporary Notables of the name Heede (post 1700) +

  • Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (b. 1945), French sailor who set the current world-record for the westabout circumnavigation

Bismarck
  • Walter Heede (1922-1941), German Matrosengefreiter who served aboard the German Battleship Bismarck during World War II when it was sunk heading to France; he died in the sinking [3]


  1. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  3. Bismarck & Tirpitz Class - Crew List Bismarck. (Retrieved 2018, February 06). Retrieved from https://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/crew/bismarck_crew.html#crew_details


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