Asteroid 12323, Haeckel, was discovered September 4, 1992 by Freimut Borngen and Lutz. D. Schmadel at Tautenburg, Thuringia, Germany. It has a period of 3 years, 96 days.
It was named for the German naturalist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), who was the leading expounder of the theory of evolution in Germany, extending it to humans, and formulating the biogenetic law (the theory that evolutionary stages are repeated in the growth of a young animal, which is discredited where it concerns embryonic development, but is still considered plausible where it concerns cognitive development).
Ernst Haeckel
The meaning of asteroid Haeckel, according to Henk Middelraad, seems to be: harassing, badgering; perhaps also, heckling, or child development.