Kai

Kai meaning

Kai is an international boy's name of Hawaiian origin.

Sea, sea water; seaside, lowlands; tide, current in the sea

Kai is the Hawaiian word for the sea. Pukui and Elbert's Hawaiian Dictionary gives kai as sea or sea water, the land near the sea and the tide or current, and it appears in phrases such as i kai, 'towards the sea'. The name has other, unrelated histories as well: Kai is an established given name in Germany and Scandinavia, and Cai is the Welsh form of Sir Kay of the Arthurian stories. For Indian parents the sound is already familiar, since kai means 'hand' in Tamil. It is said KY, to rhyme with 'sky'.

Source: Pukui & Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary (revised edition, 1986), via wehewehe.org · entry kai · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Pukui & Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary, kai · Tamil Lexicon, kai, p. 1098 · Wikipedia, Kai Havertz

Famous namesakes

• Kai Havertz, German footballer

Popularity abroad

• #93 United States, boys 2025 (down 17 from 76 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #78 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Kai · Kye

Related names

Also meaning water

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