Kai

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Kai is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Chinese given name105K records spelled Kai4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, China, Malaysia, Taiwan

  Also written Kaï

• Finnish given name54K records spelled Kai5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Slovenia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian

  Also written Kaï, Kải

• Malay given name39K records spelled Kai3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, United States

  Languages: Malay, Indonesian

  Also written Käi

• a separate given name15K records spelled Kai2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, China, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Kaï

• Polish given name9.6K records spelled Kai38 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, United States

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Кай, Kay, Каи, Kaj, Каі

72 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Kai is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• the original meaning is probably ‘shell’, but the name is written phonetically with two characters meaning ‘first class’ or ‘shell’, plus ‘beauty’ . Though the surname is found mostly in the island of Kyushu, some families could have connections with the ancient province of Kai (now Yamanashi prefecture) in the mountains of central Honshu.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• topographic name for someone living by a quayside, from Dutch kaai ‘quay’, German Kai (which was borrowed from the Dutch).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• from the Danish personal name Kai, Kaj, Kay, which is of uncertain origin, most hkely from Frisian or Latin Caius.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In German, wharf, quay

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Finnish, probably, I guess (that) (used to express a possibility or belief of what's going to happen)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 81 years between 1945–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Liang Kaib. 1200CNChinese artist
• Kai Siegbahnb. 1918SESwedish physicist (1918–2007)
• Kai Hermannb. 1938DEGerman journalist and writer
• Kai Hansenb. 1963DEGerman guitarist and singer
• Kai Wiesingerb. 1966DEGerman actor
• Kai Pflaumeb. 1967DEGerman television presenter
• Kai Ivo Baulitzb. 1971DEGerman actor and author
• Kai Wegnerb. 1972DEGerman politician
• Kai Havertzb. 1999DEGerman association football player (born 1999)
• Kai Trumpb. 2007USAmerican social media personality and granddaughter of Donald Trump (born 2007)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,239 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Kai?

We estimate roughly 71 thousand people bear Kai (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Kai have the most bearers?

Kai is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled kai.

Where is Kai most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Kai is densest in Iceland — about 1 in 183 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Kai compared with other names?

In Germany, Kai is the 176th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Kai a male or female name?

Kai is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Kai mean?

Recorded meaning: Hawaiian/Navajo/Indian: sea; willow tree; boy/girl