Kai Is Not in the Bible — but the Sea Is, and It Is Not Romantic

Kai is not in the Bible. It is several unrelated names that happen to sound the same, and the most common of them means the sea.

There is no single origin, which is unusual and worth stating plainly.

In Hawaiian, kai means sea or sea water. In Japanese it is written with several different characters and can mean ocean, shell, or forgiveness, depending on which is chosen. In Scandinavia and Germany, Kai has been in use for centuries as a short form of several longer names, including Nicolaus and Gerhard. In Welsh, Cai is the name of one of Arthur’s companions.

Parents choosing it today are usually choosing the sound rather than any of these histories.

No. None of the languages above are biblical languages, and no Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek name in Scripture corresponds to it.

The sea, on the other hand, is one of the Bible’s great preoccupations, and its attitude to it is not what most people expect.

The Hebrew writers were not a seafaring people, and the sea in their literature is the element that cannot be controlled.

It is there in the second verse of the Bible — darkness over the surface of the deep (Genesis 1:2) — as the formlessness that God speaks order into.

The psalmists use it for everything overwhelming: Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. (Psalm 42:7)

And when Jesus is asleep in the boat and the disciples wake him, what he does is not calm them. He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (Mark 4:39)

Rebuked. The same verb used of confronting a hostile power. Their question afterwards — Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him! — is the reaction of people who knew exactly what the sea was and had just watched someone speak to it.

Which makes one line in Revelation land harder than it usually does:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (Revelation 21:1)

Read as geography, that is a strange and rather sad promise. Read as the Hebrew writers meant the sea, it is the point of the whole book. The element of chaos, of separation, of the thing that takes ships and does not give them back, is simply gone.

John was writing from an island, separated from his churches by water. He had reason to notice.

None of which makes it an enemy in itself. It is made, and it is praised as made.

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. (Psalm 95:5)

And Psalm 104, which is the closest thing in Scripture to a naturalist’s hymn, describes ships going to and fro on it and Leviathan playing there — a creature elsewhere used for terror, here simply enjoying itself (Psalm 104:26).

Both things are held: the sea as the wild element, and the sea as God’s, with something at play in it.

May we know which waters are to be crossed and which are to be stilled by someone other than us.

May we not be surprised that the deep is deep.

And may we be glad of a world made with a sea in it, while we wait for the one made without.

Is Kai a biblical name?

No. It comes from Hawaiian, Japanese, Scandinavian and Welsh traditions, none of which are biblical languages.

What does Kai mean?

Most often sea or sea water, from the Hawaiian. In Japanese it can mean ocean, shell or forgiveness, depending on the character used; in northern Europe it is a short form of several longer names.

What does the sea mean in the Bible?

Chiefly the element beyond human control — the deep of Genesis 1:2, the waves of Psalm 42:7, the storm Jesus rebukes in Mark 4:39. Revelation 21:1 ends with it gone.

Is the sea treated as evil in Scripture?

No. Psalm 95:5 says it is his because he made it, and Psalm 104:26 has Leviathan playing in it.