Kai.
wharf, quay
Meaning & usage
wharf, quay
Where this word comes from
17th century, 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.
a male given name
a diminutive of the female given name Katharina
Where this word comes from
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”).
Try it on your idea.
Kai has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.