Name in Japanese M Mavis

Mavis in Japanese

メイビス
Katakana
メイビス
Hiragana
めいびす
Romaji (Hepburn)
Meibisu

This is the common, natural katakana for Mavis. Katakana approximates English sounds, so a slightly different spelling can also be valid — treat this as a reliable default, not the single "correct" answer.

How Mavis sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Me
I
Bi
Su

Full reading: Meibisu

Do more with Mavis in Japanese

Why Mavis is written in katakana

In Japanese, foreign names are written in katakana — the angular script reserved for words borrowed from other languages. So on a form, a name tag, a delivery slip or a news article in Japan, Mavis appears as メイビス. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees メイビス and immediately reads it by its sound, Meibisu.

Katakana is a syllabary, so English sounds are fitted to the nearest Japanese syllables and every consonant (except ん) is followed by a vowel. That is why Mavis becomes メイビス rather than a letter-for-letter copy. More than one katakana spelling can be reasonable for the same name, which is why we flag whether a spelling is a long-established one or a natural default.