Kai
Kai was given to 3,768 boys in 2025, #93 among boys’ names; 78,710 Americans have been recorded with it since 1926 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 77,700 Americans named Kai and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 17.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Kai by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Kai mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Kai is “a unisex given name from the Germanic languages, of modern usage.”
Also “a female given name of modern usage.”
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”).
/kaɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Kai?
#93 among boys’ names, 2025
Kai rose from #145 in 2015 to #93 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 1.5 to 2.2 per 1,000.
5,732 babies in 2022, the peak
Kai peaked in 2022, when 5,732 babies were given it (5,374 boys, #59 among boys’ names). The 4,002 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 70% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 234 | #1,054 | 3,768 | #93 |
| 2024 | 214 | #1,132 | 4,301 | #76 |
| 2023 | 282 | #940 | 4,976 | #61 |
| 2022 | 358 | #791 | 5,374 | #59 |
| 2021 | 371 | #770 | 4,641 | #70 |
| 2020 | 344 | #793 | 3,867 | #93 |
| 2019 | 338 | #809 | 3,744 | #100 |
| 2018 | 318 | #854 | 3,463 | #112 |
| 2017 | 338 | #809 | 3,158 | #126 |
| 2016 | 320 | #879 | 2,895 | #145 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 311 | #888 | 2,852 | #145 |
| 2014 | 270 | #989 | 2,411 | #177 |
| 2013 | 282 | #906 | 1,983 | #199 |
| 2012 | 281 | #919 | 1,938 | #197 |
| 2011 | 294 | #889 | 1,790 | #202 |
| 2010 | 268 | #955 | 1,750 | #205 |
| 2009 | 235 | #1,086 | 1,759 | #213 |
| 2008 | 234 | #1,105 | 1,609 | #229 |
| 2007 | 210 | #1,200 | 1,399 | #252 |
| 2006 | 180 | #1,301 | 1,451 | #238 |
| 2005 | 185 | #1,232 | 1,413 | #239 |
| 2004 | 164 | #1,304 | 1,324 | #249 |
| 2003 | 148 | #1,366 | 1,217 | #264 |
| 2002 | 158 | #1,254 | 1,108 | #276 |
| 2001 | 128 | #1,470 | 718 | #370 |
| 2000 | 131 | #1,414 | 622 | #403 |
| 1999 | 144 | #1,278 | 465 | #478 |
| 1998 | 126 | #1,367 | 363 | #548 |
| 1997 | 128 | #1,347 | 322 | #576 |
| 1996 | 87 | #1,724 | 297 | #598 |
| 1995 | 81 | #1,774 | 357 | #535 |
| 1994 | 88 | #1,689 | 216 | #710 |
| 1993 | 79 | #1,833 | 182 | #782 |
| 1992 | 68 | #2,013 | 159 | #835 |
| 1991 | 53 | #2,396 | 155 | #827 |
| 1990 | 51 | #2,410 | 124 | #924 |
| 1989 | 38 | #2,891 | 140 | #847 |
| 1988 | 43 | #2,499 | 93 | #1,015 |
| 1987 | 34 | #2,874 | 105 | #924 |
| 1986 | 29 | #3,158 | 96 | #934 |
| 1985 | 33 | #2,826 | 99 | #915 |
| 1984 | 49 | #2,062 | 85 | #964 |
| 1983 | 37 | #2,489 | 75 | #1,026 |
| 1982 | 40 | #2,423 | 94 | #925 |
| 1981 | 46 | #2,212 | 88 | #963 |
| 1980 | 64 | #1,739 | 83 | #994 |
| 1979 | 56 | #1,887 | 87 | #950 |
| 1978 | 67 | #1,606 | 74 | #1,009 |
| 1977 | 45 | #2,103 | 66 | #1,065 |
| 1976 | 42 | #2,077 | 54 | #1,172 |
| 1975 | 41 | #2,111 | 58 | #1,109 |
| 1974 | 43 | #1,975 | 50 | #1,174 |
| 1973 | 44 | #1,897 | 53 | #1,132 |
| 1972 | 46 | #1,842 | 52 | #1,133 |
| 1971 | 24 | #2,902 | 40 | #1,340 |
| 1970 | 21 | #3,153 | 58 | #1,074 |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,996 | 46 | #1,158 |
| 1968 | 13 | #3,879 | 47 | #1,094 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,549 | 40 | #1,189 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,313 | 36 | #1,270 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,323 | 33 | #1,346 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,347 | 32 | #1,396 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,059 | 35 | #1,332 |
| 1962 | 14 | #3,505 | 29 | #1,463 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,694 | 23 | #1,716 |
| 1960 | 7 | #5,410 | 20 | #1,841 |
| 1959 | 7 | #5,283 | 26 | #1,569 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,334 | 20 | #1,808 |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,568 | 16 | #2,055 |
| 1956 | under 5 | 12 | #2,434 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 22 | #1,661 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 14 | #2,161 | |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,078 | 10 | #2,620 |
| 1952 | under 5 | 5 | #3,999 | |
| 1951 | under 5 | 14 | #2,098 | |
| 1950 | under 5 | 9 | #2,670 | |
| 1949 | under 5 | 5 | #3,969 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 5 | #3,677 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 6 | #3,569 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 6 | #3,957 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Kai a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 78,710 Americans recorded as Kai, 11% are girls and 89% boys. In 2025 it went to 234 girls and 3,768 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Kai: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Kai, and how old are they?
77,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 78,710 Americans ever recorded as Kai. The median Kai alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 17.
The 2020 Census counted 53,204 people named Kai (7,269 women and girls, 45,935 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 50,391 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 276 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,090 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 22,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 51,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Kai born?
The states with the most babies named Kai are California, Texas and Florida, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 626 | #58 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 382 | #108 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 358 | #58 | 1.3× |
| New York | 235 | #78 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 132 | #102 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 127 | #99 | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 122 | #111 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 116 | #130 | 0.7× |
| Arizona | 108 | #80 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 108 | #98 | 0.8× |
Where Kai is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Kai is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1926 it was given 3.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Kai with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 89,779 babies since 1880, Kai is the most given (88% of them). In 2025 it was given to 4,002 of their 4,584 babies (87%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Kai
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Kai and names like it
- Compare Kai and KhaiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sKai peaked in 2022.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Kai since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Kai: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Kai.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Kai alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with KMost given first.