Name in Japanese M Max

Max in Japanese

マックス
Katakana
マックス
Hiragana
まっくす
Romaji (Hepburn)
Makkusu

This is the established spelling used for Max in Japanese dictionaries, books and media.

How Max sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ma
ック Kku
Su

Full reading: Makkusu

Do more with Max in Japanese

Why Max 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, Max appears as マックス. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees マックス and immediately reads it by its sound, Makkusu.

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 Max becomes マックス 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.