Kerckhoff or Kerckhoffs is a Dutch and Low German toponymic surname meaning "church yard" (modern Dutch kerkhof). An ancestor may have lived near or worked in the church yard, or have come from a number of villages and hamlets named Kerkhove or Kerkhoven. Variant forms of the surname are Kerkhof, Kerkhoff(s), Kerkhove(n), and Van (de) Kerkhof(f). Notable people with the surname include:
- Auguste Kerckhoffs (1835–1903), Dutch linguist and cryptographer
- Kerckhoffs' principle, a cryptographic principle named for him
- Hermann Kerckhoff (1937–2023), German-born Canadian slalom canoeist
- Joseph Kerckhoffs (1789–1867), Dutch physician
- Steven Kerckhoff (born 1952), American mathematician
- Sylvia Kerckhoff (born 1928), American mayor of Durham, North Carolina
- William G. Kerckhoff (1856–1929), American businessman
- Kerckhoff Dam, a reservoir dam in California named after him
- Kerckhoff Marine Lab, southern California marine station owned and operated by Caltech named after him
See also
- Kirchhoff, German cognate surname
References
- Kerkhoff at the Database of Surnames in the Netherlands
Surname listThis page lists people with the surname Kerckhoff. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link. Categories: