Kai
English
Etymology
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”).
Danish
Estonian
Faroese
Etymology
From Danish Kaj, from Latin Cāius, from Etruscan 𐌂𐌀𐌉𐌄 (caie), from an era when the letter C represented the phonetic value /ɡ/.
Usage notes
Patronymics
- son of Kai: Kaisson
- daughter Kai: Kaisdóttir
Declension
Singular | |
Indefinite | |
Nominative | Kai |
Accusative | Kai |
Dative | Kai |
Genitive | Kais |
Finnish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɑi̯/, [ˈkɑi̯]
- Hyphenation: Kai
- Rhymes: -ɑi
Declension
Inflection of Kai (Kotus type 18/maa, no gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
nominative | Kai | Kait | |
genitive | Kain | Kaiden Kaitten | |
partitive | Kaita | Kaita | |
illative | Kaihin | Kaihin | |
singular | plural | ||
nominative | Kai | Kait | |
accusative | nom. | Kai | Kait |
gen. | Kain | ||
genitive | Kain | Kaiden Kaitten | |
partitive | Kaita | Kaita | |
inessive | Kaissa | Kaissa | |
elative | Kaista | Kaista | |
illative | Kaihin | Kaihin | |
adessive | Kailla | Kailla | |
ablative | Kailta | Kailta | |
allative | Kaille | Kaille | |
essive | Kaina | Kaina | |
translative | Kaiksi | Kaiksi | |
instructive | — | Kain | |
abessive | Kaitta | Kaitta | |
comitative | — | Kaineen |
German
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -aɪ̯
Etymology 1
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.
Declension
Etymology 2
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).
Proper noun
Kai m or f (genitive Kais)
- A male given name (mostly in Northern Germany)
- (rare) A female given name, diminutive of Katharina.
Hawaiian
Etymology
From kai (“sea, sea water”) ; also a short form of compound given names containing this word.
References
- 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.