Kai
2025 SSA
About Kai
Kai is an internationally flexible name with many possible origins and meanings, growing in popularity in the US and a diverse range of European countries.
In the US, the name Kai is most commonly referred to as being of Hawaiian derivation, meaning "sea." In Europe, Kai is largely considered to have Frisian origin as a diminutive of the name Kaimbe, meaning "warrior", or as a short form of Gerard "brave spear".
Kai is also found as an independent name in African, Chinese, Turkish and Native American cultures. Kai is a strong, evocative multi-cultural name that packs a lot of power in its single syllable.
Famous as the name of the boy enchanted by the fairy-tale Snow Queen, Kai was chosen for her son by actress Jennifer Connelly and as a middle name for son Samuel by Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber.
Kai is popular with Berries as both a first and middle name choice. Perhaps because of its international familiarity, Kai is popular in video games. Its most prominent namesake is Danish-born jazz trombonist Kai Winding.
Kai ranks in the US Top 1000 for girls, but is used more than 90 percent of the time for boys. Donald Trump, Jr. has a daughter named Kai Madison and Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik named their daughter Khai in 2020.
Pronounced KY.
As of October 2026, Kai ranked #93 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #59 in 2022, Nameberry popularity #53.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #177 | 2,411 | 1,255.2 |
| 2015 | #145 | 2,852 | 1,487.9 |
| 2016 | #145 | 2,895 | 1,525.5 |
| 2017 | #126 | 3,155 | 1,704.5 |
| 2018 | #112 | 3,462 | 1,906.2 |
| 2019 | #100 | 3,741 | 2,085 |
| 2020 | #93 | 3,863 | 2,238 |
| 2021 | #70 | 4,638 | 2,651.1 |
| 2022 | #59 | 5,366 | 3,073.3 |
| 2023 | #61 | 4,967 | 2,903.7 |
| 2024 | #76 | 4,276 | 2,481.9 |
| 2025 | #93 | 3,768 | 2,206 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Kai.
Kai on lists
Famous Kais
- Kai Ryssdal
American radio journalist
- Kai Lennox
American actor
- Kai
stage name of Kim Jongin; dancer, singer, and rapper of South Korean boy band EXO
- Kai Kamal Huening
birth name of Hueningkai; rapper, dancer, and singer of South Korean boy group TXT
- Kai Winding
American jazz musician
- Kai Forbath
American football player
- Kai Owen
Welsh actor
- Kai Alexander
American actor
- Kai Caster
American actor
- Kai Haaskivi
Finnish footballer
- Kai Bird
American Pulitzer Prize winning author
- Kai Kazmirek
German Olympic decathlon athlete
- Kai Reus
Dutch professional cyclist
- Kai Havertz
German footballer
- Kai Siegbahn
Swedish Nobel prize winning physicist
- Kai Welch
American musician
- Kai Wachi
musician and producer
- Kai Herdling
professional soccer player MLS
- Kai Hillebrand
actor, model, and professional skateboarder
- Kai Nacua
NFL player
- Kai Chapman
American actor
- Kai Pflaum
German TV personality and game show host
- Kai Heerings
German professional footballer
- Kai Mathesdorf
German DJ and musician
- Kai Oswald
German footballer who played in the Bundesliga for several clubs including Stuttgart
- Kai Karra
France , New Zealand born MMA fighter
- Kai Asakura
Japanese MMA fighter
- Kai Harvey (b. 1996)
son of actress Danniella Westbrook and Brian Harvey
- Kai Dugan (b. 1997)
son of actress Jennifer Connolly and David Dugan
- Kai Bowers (b. 1997)
son of singer Dane Bowers of Another Level
- Kai Rochester (b. 2000)
son of Australian TV personality Ajay Rochester
- Kai Miles Land (b. 2001)
son of actors Sharon Leal and Bev Land
- Kai Harper Steines (b. 2003)
son of TV personality Mark Steines and Miss America Leanza Cornett
- Kai Silver (b. 2005)
son of actress Kerri Kenney,Silver
- Kai David Singh Stenson (b. 2009)
son of actress Parminder Nagra and James Stenson
- Kai Wayne Rooney (b. 2009)
son of footballer Wayne Rooney
- Kai Robben
son of Footballer Arjen Robben
- Kai Kaplan (b. 2009)
son of TV personality Derek Kaplan of "Million Dollar Listing"
- Kai Rei Goldin (b. 2010)
son of actor Ricky Paull Goldin
- Kai Allen (b. 2012)
son of basketball player Lavoy Allen
- Kai Turok (b. 2012)
son of ice dancer Shae,Lynn Bourne and Bohadan Turok
- Kai Kompany (b. 2013)
son of footballer Vincent Kompany
- Kai Horowitz (b. 2014)
son of actress Brittany Ishibashi and Jeff Horowitz
- Kai Yunda (b. 2016)
son of TV personality Melody Mitchell and Lalo Yunda of "Black Ink Crew"
- Samuel Kai Schreiber (b. 2008)
son of actors Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts
- Kai Lopes (b. 2018)
son of Portuguese football player Eder Lopes and Belgium model Sanna Lopes (Ladera)
- Kaito (Kai)
Prince in the fantasy series The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
- Kai Cenat
American livestreamer
Kai in pop culture
- Kai or Kay
brother of King Arthur
- Kai or Kay
character in "The Snow Queen," by Hans Christian Andersen
- Kai Ashe
character on TV's NCIS: Red
- Kai
Red Ninja from "Ninjago"
- Kai Fisher (Kairan)
Chronicles of Syntax
- Kai
character in the video game Ape Escape 3
- Prince Kai (Kaito)
character in the Lunar Chronicles book series
- Kai
character in animated series The Legend of Korra
- Malachai "Kai" Parker
character on TV's "The Vampire Diaries"
- King Kai
character in Dragon Ball Z
- Kai Miroku
tailor and the person who started the Great Fire of Enbizaka in the Evillious Chronicles.
- Kai
a character in the manga 'Afterschool Charisma'
- Kai
captain of the Bladebreakers in the Japanese manga, "Beyblade"
- Kai Proctor
character on TV show Banshee
- Kai Anderson
character on TV show American Horror Story
- Prince Kai von Grannzreich
character in anime/manga "The Royal Tutor"
- Kai
character in Aphmau's YouTube series
- Kai
character in the anime "Blood+"
- Kai
character in the video game franchise "Harvest Moon"
- Kairos
from the Greek word meaning "the defining moment" or "the opportune moment"
- Kai
a Basque word meaning "pier of a harbor";
- Means "strong" in Burmese; "triumph" in Chinese; "pier" in Estonian; "probably" in Finnish; "ocean" or "ocean water" in Hawaiian; "ocean" or "shell" or "recovery" or "restoration" in Japanese; "food" in Maori; "willow tree" in Navajo; "keeper of the keys" in Nordic languages; "loveable" in Swahili; "universe" in Urdu
short for Kainat
- Kai Islands
Indonesia
- Kai Azer
character in the Powerless trilogy by Lauren Roberts