Mom is Japanese, and in Japanese, it means – depending on which glyph you use – "Ocean" or, "Joyful."  We will probably go with Ocean, as it's glyph has a particularly good heritage in Japanese...

This is really a stretch, but dad has a Jewish heritage, and Chai means "life" in Hebrew, though the pronunciation is slightly different for those who can actually pronounce the "ch" sound in Hebrew.  (Sorry Bob and Paul.)

Kai lives in (near, really) Chinatown, and in Mandarin Kai means "Open" – like "Open Your Mind," or, "Open Hearted."

In the world of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the recently liberated, formerly oppressed world of Bejor is the nexus of the show, and it deals with many issues related to social justice, which we respect.

Bejor is known – in this fictional account of the oppressed – as a particularly spiritual world, and their spiritual leaders are addressed as "Kai."

One of King Arthur's trusty knights was "Kai."  King Arthur is not something we are particularly knowledgeable about, but someone we know and have come to love informs us that King Arthur's legend is quite altruistic (just like her), and so we are very pleased to include this reason, as well...  Thanks, Ann L.

Kai is one of only five names that can (barely) be construed to be both American and Japanese.  Some of the others are Sy and Mo (Seymour/Sai, Mori/Morris), so we were somewhat constrained, and this explains why so many Japanese/American babies have this name...

•

We like the name Kai.

•

JR Leidy, a good, good person and trusty, loyal friend who recently passed away...

•

Dr. James Martin Wheeler, who has been a life long best friend, helper and inspiration...

•

Janet Schulman – as good a family friend and teacher as any family has ever known...

•

James F. Capalino – who has as good a mind as can be found in this generation (and I suspect many others), who is also the best and most important teacher I have ever had the pleasure to experience (and I have had many great teachers), and who is also a friend of man and a friend of mine...

•

James Yuen – One of the cleverest and most sensitive persons anyone has ever met (and we all say this about him, every time he leaves the room).

•

Kai's heritage is Japanese...

•

Kai's heritage is also Jewish...

•

There are so many others whose name I wished had a J (like Jarlotta, or Joshie) in it, and I also wish we could give him about forty names, but, he's already saddled with a pretty non-traditional parentage as it is...