Kierkegaard is a Danish surname, literally meaning church farm or church yard and colloquially meaning graveyard. Note that the double a is equivalent of å in common nouns and is retained from the pre-1948 orthography in proper nouns only. Notable people with the surname include: Christer Kierkegaard (1918–1999), Swedish Navy rear admiral Niels Christian Kierkegaard (1806-1882), Danish painter Peter Kierkegaard (1805–1888), Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher Sylvia Kierkegaard (1952–2015), Philippine law scholar Emil Kirkegaard, creator of OpenPsych See also Helene Kirkegaard (born 1971), Danish badminton player Danish-language surnames