Kain

Kain is a spelling of Cain, the biblical name of Adam and Eve’s first son. Genesis connects the name with a word for acquiring or obtaining, although the name’s deeper linguistic history has also been discussed in other ways. The biblical interpretation is the clearest context for the familiar meaning “acquired.”

Kain is used in German-language biblical tradition as well as as an alternative spelling in English. The story of Cain and Abel gives it a strong and complicated association, since Cain kills his brother. That narrative will be more immediately recognizable to many readers than the etymology. The spelling preserves the short, one-syllable form while showing that a K beginning can belong to an established language tradition.