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Kaj

A Slavic name that reads two ways at once: "warrior" and "joyful". Barely 300 Poles carry it, nearly all of them men, so most people here have never met one.

Kaj Pronunciation

Kaj is pronounced KAHY (/kaj/).

Alive in 2025
307
Newborns 2025
4
National rank
#1727

What Kaj means

Where Kaj comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Kaj lands short and firm, one syllable that ends where it begins. The name is often placed in Scandinavia, where it has long circled through Danish and Swedish families. Its roots reach further, into Slavic ground, and the short meaning that travels with it runs two ways: warrior and keeper of the earth.

Readers may know a version of it from Hans Christian Andersen. In "The Snow Queen," published in 1844, the boy whose heart turns to ice is called Kay, spelled Kai in some translations, a close cousin of this form.

In Polish the sense tilts a little. Here Kaj answers to wojownik, the warrior, and also to radosny, the one who carries gladness. A child on a class register wears both of those at once.

There are no diminutives to soften it, no longer form to grow into. Kaj stays Kaj. What it hands the bearer is plain: a warrior's name that also means keeper of the earth.

How many people are named Kaj

1 in 70218 men in Poland is named Kaj. 307 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1727 among male names.

People with the name Kaj 2019 → 2025
307 +100 since 2019
2020 217 +10
2021 240 +23
2022 258 +18
2023 275 +17
2024 294 +19
2025 307 +13

Kaj's popularity over time

4 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1074 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2003.

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4 newborns with the name Kaj in 2025
national rank #1074 that year

Where parents choose Kaj

Kaj is most popular in Masovian, 230% above the national average (26 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+113%) and Lower Silesian (+72%). It is least common in Łódź, 29% below average.

Chosen most
  • Masovian
    +230%
    1 in 13,626 babies
  • West Pomeranian
    +113%
    1 in 21,106 babies
  • Lower Silesian
    +72%
    1 in 26,189 babies
Chosen least
  • Łódź
    −29%
    1 in 63,359 babies

Kaj as a middle name

Kaj is a first name for 307 men in Poland and a middle name for another 76, an 80/20 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 819th, between Gregorio (76) and Kalikst (76).

As a first name
307
As a middle name
76
first name 80% middle name 20%
Middle-name ranking men

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Ludmyla #1728