Kai - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Kai [ 1 syll. kai, ka-i ] is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is KAY ^KEY. Kai is a Frisian and German name of Germanic origin. Derived from the element 'katha' which means hen, chicken. Caius (Latin) and Gaius (Latin) are original forms of Kai. The origin of the name is obscure; it could have developed as a Frisian short form of Gerhard, or else from the Old Norse 'katha', or else from the Roman Caius and thus related to Caio. It is rather common in Denmark. See Kai for more info. The name Kaja (German) is the female version of Kai.

Cay (German), Kaj (German), and Kay (German) are variants of Kai. See also the related forms, Gerhard (German and Scandinavian) and Caio (Italian).

Kai is popular as a baby name for boys, and it is also viewed as fairly trendy. The name's popularity has been rising since the 1980s. At the modest peak of its usage in 2005, 0.066% of baby boys were given the name Kai. It ranked at #239 then. In 2007, its usage was 0.063% and its ranking #254, and it was the most regularly used out of all boy names in its group.

Baby names that sound like Kai include Kaj (German), Kay (German), Cay (German), Kacey (English), Kasey (English), Caio (Italian), Casey (English), Cayo (Spanish), and Cassius (English).

^KEY: English pronunciation for Kai: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; AY as in "hide (HH.AY.D)"

Popularity Trend
for Kai
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Kai
in 2007