Kai

Taken into regular use in the 1990s, with earlier popularity peaks in Scandinavia and Germany. The medieval Danish Kaj is possibly of Roman origin, Latinized as Caius, like the rare medieval English male given name Kay. The German Kai may also derive from a West Frisian pet form of Gerard, Cornelius, Nicholas, or Kampe "warrior". In the U.S. Kai has also been explained as Hawaiian kai (“sea”).

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /kaɪ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Kai

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages, of modern usage.
2. (rare) A female given name of modern usage.

• AKI, KIA, Kia, aik

Kai

1. a male given name, a less common spelling of Kaj

• [1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 8 117 males with the given name Kai (compared to 31 574 named Kaj) have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

Kai

1. a female given name, short for Kaia, Katariina ("Catherine")

From Danish Kaj, from Latin Cāius, from Etruscan 𐌂𐌀𐌉𐌄 (caie), from an era when the letter C represented the phonetic value /ɡ/.

• IPA^(key): /kʰaiː/
• Rhymes: -aiː
• Homophones: kai, kei

Kai m

1. a male given name, compare Kaj (more common, but Danish spelling)

Patronymics

• son of Kai: Kaisson
• daughter Kai: Kaisdóttir

From Danish Kaj.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑi̯/, [ˈkɑ̝i̯]
• Rhymes: -ɑi
• Syllabification^(key): Kai
• Hyphenation^(key): Kai

Kai

1. a male given name

• Kai is the 91^st most common male given name in Finland, belonging to 7,771 male individuals (and as a middle name to 1,269 more), and also belongs to 34 female individuals (and as a middle name to 12 more), according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

• Aki, aik.

• IPA^(key): (Germany, Switzerland) /kaɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯
• IPA^(key): (Austria) /keː/
• Rhymes: -eː

17th century, from Dutch kaai, from Middle Dutch kaey (whence also through hypercorrection Dutch kade). The word is ultimately Celtic, but it is unsettled whether the Dutch form is borrowed via Old French kay, as traditionally held, or indeed vice versa.

Kai m (strong, genitive Kais, plural Kais or (uncommon) Kaie)

1. wharf, quay

• → Polish: keja

Taken into regular use in the 20th century; either borrowed from Danish Kaj, or from a West Frisian baby talk form of Kaimbe, Kempe (“fighter, warrior”), Gerrit (“Gerard”), Cornelis (“Cornelius”) and Kleis (“Nicholas”).

Kai m or f (proper noun, strong, genitive Kais, plural Kais)

1. (chiefly Northern Germany) a male given name
2. (rare) a diminutive of the female given name Katharina

• Kaj, Kay

From kai (“sea, sea water”); also a short form of compound given names containing this word.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkai̯/, [ˈkɐj], [ˈkɛj] (rapid speech)

Kai

1. a male or (less commonly) female given name from Hawaiian

• Hawaii State Archives: Marriage records Kai occurs in 19th century marriage records as the only name (mononym) of 10 women and 13 men.
• Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names by State: Kai was included in the top hundred first names for boys born in the State of Hawaii in 1995-2008.

Kai

1. a female given name

• Center for aboriginal studies (2014) “Kai”, in 原住民族人名譜 [Dictionary of Aboriginal Names in Taiwan]‎^[2] (in Chinese), Taipei: Council of Indigenous Peoples

• kai (Föhr-Amrum)
• koie (Mooring)

From Old Frisian kēi. Cognates include West Frisian kaai.

Kai m (plural Kaier)

1. (Sylt) key

Kai

1. a male given name derived from Danish Kaj

Kai

1. a male given name derived from Kayı

• Kailar
• Kayılar