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.Kerkhoff at the Database of Surnames in the Netherlands 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), Canadian slalom canoeist Joseph Kerckhoffs (1789–1867), Dutch physician Steven Kerckhoff (born 1952), American mathematician Sylvia Kerckhoff (born 1928), American politician from 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
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