My oldest ancestor is Jan van Lienden(Linden) born 1650 in homoet.

the next generation is van der Linden for some children and van Linden for others.

what would cause the change of surname in this case? Any feedback would be appreciated. 
 

any feedback on how to find his father would be appreciated 

David

In the past, most people were illiterate and did not know how their name was written. So they couldn't check whether their name was recorded correctly. Moreover, there was no Dutch dictionary or uniform spelling at the time.

The name Van (der) Linde(n) suggests that people lived near lime trees and is very common. It may explain that the lesser-known name Van Liende(n) has been changed to Van Linde(n) (or Van Lynde).

Less likely:  derived from the Flemish village Linde, which is written as Lynde in France. The pronunciation of Y (as in baby) could be written in Dutch as IE.

Or: Liende could be «lien de» in French, which stands for « link of », « related ».

PS in the Netherlands your name is spelled as: 'Van der Linden' not 'van der Linden'. It is 'the children Van der Linden' , 'Mr. Van der Linden'. But indeed 'David van der Linden' (not David Van der Linden).

Thanks for the explanation.  I have heard the lime (linden) tree explanation before.

What is curious. The town of Lienden is only 5km from Homoet.  My guess is it is truly “from Lienden”.

Given my research on the town of Lienden shows it also had different spellings “Lynden”

Thanks for the advice on the correct spelling of van der Linden.  My father was born in the Netherlands, hence taught us to spell it properly

any further insights would be appreciated

David

Your guess "from Lienden/Lynden" is obvious and convincing. But my explanation remains that people did not know (or did not care) how to write their name.  

Note that a person was called Van Lienden after he moved from Lienden. Before he was called such as Janszoon/Janssen. 

I suppose that you have seen this (fairly reliable-looking) family tree on Geneanet? The first generation seems to be connected to the Nederduits Reformed church (NDG or NH) in Kesteren (Gelderland) and Wijk bij Duurstede (Utrecht). Did you search already on family search ?  For any more help I advise you to open a new post with a focused title on the Stamboom subforum "onderzoek in Nederland".  

NB  One of the oldest families of the Dutch nobility came also from Lynden! see House of Lynden 

Thanks for the response.  Given that logic, finding his father (if he lived in Lienden) will be nearly impossible.

My branch comes down the route at Wijk bij Duurstede.  Seems the ancestors moved 5 km per 100 years until they got to Utrecht.

i noted the name is also one with link to nobility. Romantic, but highly unlikely.

my siblings were quite happy to hear the original Linden wasn’t “van der” as they have all dropped “van der” from their names. 
 

regards

David

I'd like to add that there is no "right" way of recording names. You will find names with different spellings. I see people "force" the name to be "as it should be". I would advice you instead to record each alternative name and just to accept that this person is/was known as A/B/C/etc.

I have ancestors that were spelled "Pauwert" and couldn't find a connection. Then I discovered that that person was a "van der Pavord/Pavort/Pavordt", which even further back was "van de Padevoort"