The name Kay (/kay/) is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a female name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but, it is also used as a first name in its own right, and (more often in non-English speakers) as a boy's name (for example in India). The alternative spelling of Kaye is encountered as a surname, but also occasionally as a given name; for instance, actress Kaye Ballard.
A dynasty name:
- Gakhars therefore use the ancient royal Persian title "Kay or "Kayani as did the Sassanian aristocracy as they claim connection with the semi-mythological Kayani Kings of ancient Iran.
A female first name:
- Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senior United States Senator from Texas
- Kay Boutilier, better known by her stage name My Name is Kay is a Canadian singer-songwriter
- Kay Elson, Australian Liberal Party politician
- Kay Hull, Australian Liberal Party politician
- Kay Hagan, the junior United States Senator from North Carolina
- Kay Kendall, British actress
- Kay A. Orr, United States Republican Party politician
- Kay Panabaker, an actress
- Kay Redfield Jamison, American professor of psychiatry and writer who is an expert on bipolar disorder
- Kay Parker, porn actress
- Kay Tse, a popular singer from Hong Kong
A male first name (see also Kai (name)):
- Kay van Dijk, Dutch volleyball player
- Kay Pollak, Swedish film director
The name of a fictional character:
- Agent K, a character in the Men In Black film series and animated series
- Kay Adams-Corleone, a character in Mario Puzo's The Godfather.
- Sir Kay, character from Arthurian legend
- Kay Harker, character from the book The Box of Delights by John Masefield.
- Kay, a protagonist in the video game Legend of Kay.
- Kay, also spelled Kai, a character in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen
- Kay, a character in the Vertigo comic series Fables.
- Kay Faraday, a character in the Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
A brand name or pseudonym:
- Kay Musical Instrument Company, a musical instrument manufacturer that produced guitars, double basses, and other instruments
- DJ Kayslay, the ringmaster of the new hip-hop rivalries
- Kay Jewelers, a fine jewelry store chain in the United States
- Mary Kay, a brand of skin care and color cosmetics in USA
Kay may also be:
- the surname Kay
- a nickname / short version of a name
- K, the eleventh letter in the Latin alphabet
- 'kay, short for okay, a term of approval or assent
- an epithet for a ruler of the mythological Kayanian dynasty
- Kay, an album by John Wesley Ryles, or its title track, "Kay" (song)
Famous quotes containing the word kay:
“Since civilizing children takes the better part of two decades—some twenty years of nonstop thinking, nurturing, teaching, coaxing, rewarding, forgiving, warning, punishing, sympathizing, apologizing, reminding, and repeating, not to mention deciding what to do when—I now understand that one wrong move is invariably followed by hundreds of opportunities to be wrong again.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“How can one explain all the time and thought that goes into raising a child, all the opportunities for mistakes, all the chances to recover and try again? How does one break the news that nothing permanent can be formed in an instant—children are not weaned, potty trained, taught manners, introduced to civilization in one or two tries—as everyone imagined.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)