Kai
Pronounced K AY1 (ARPABET)
- 1 syllable
- Peaked 2022
- 99 years in use
- 2 spellings
How popular is Kai?
Kai is a name given to both boys and girls, and first appears in 1926. It has been given to 76,729 children — the 402nd most common boys' name on record.
It is climbing hard: roughly twice as many births in the past decade as in the one before it. Its best single year was 2022, when 5,497 children were given it.
Two other spellings are counted in that total — Cai and Keye — because they are pronounced identically.
Roughly 11% of children named Kai are girls, so the split is a real one rather than a rounding error.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Kai and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Cai
- Keye
Characteristics
- 1 syllable
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- K AY1
- Stress pattern:
- 1
- Syllables:
- 1
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Kai
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Kai
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Kai?
- Kai ranks 402nd among boys' names in US records, with 76,729 births since 1926. Over the past decade it accounts for 40,148.
- Is Kai a unisex name?
- Yes. About 11% of children given the name are girls, which is a genuine split rather than a rounding error.
- When was Kai most popular?
- 2022, when 5,497 children were given the name. It has been in use for 99 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Kai spelled?
- Cai, Keye. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.