It is commonly transliterated as Mak in Hong Kong, based on the Cantonese pronunciation, though other transliterations exist.
"麥" is the standard character in both Traditional and Simplified scripts but 麦 is also a variant seen in both.
The meaning of the Chinese character is either wheat or barley.
According to a 2013 study, 麦 was the 200th most common surname, shared by 550,000 people or 0.041% of China's population, with Guangdong being the province with the most.
The Mai 買 surname is only found among Siraya Taiwan Plains Aboriginals in Taiwan and among Hui people in mainland China.