Read Kiff's journal here and on PeaceLabs.

Where does the name “Kiff” come from?

What’s in a name? Turns out, a lot when it comes to “Christopher Cunningham Gallagher, Jr.” aka “Kiff.” When Kiff was born, his sister Caitlin couldn’t pronounce “Christopher.” Instead she called him, “Kiffifer.” And that was that. Until he was 15 yrs old, everybody knew Chris Jr, as Kiff.

When he went away to a prep school Kiff became self-conscious about being called “Kiffy.” “I was afraid it was too preppy and, honestly at the time, not PC, but sorta gay.” So he got hardcore about having people call him ‘Chris’ which stuck through the first part of his career... until he went back to music. While his oldest friends and family never stepped off the ‘Kiff’ bus, the artist reintroduced his childhood nickname in the subtext of his demo album, “Will and Surrender” and then more boldly on the title of his 2005 release “You Can’t Keep it Down” (Kiff). Now, in his business, Kiff signs off as “Chris ‘Kiff’ Gallagher” and still goes by ‘Kiff’ informally.

Apparently ‘Kiff’ means different things in different languages. Slang for “cool” in French. Marijuana in Morocco. South African surfer slang for “awesome.” And we’re told that it signifies “feelings of happiness and euphoria” in Russian (is this true?).