| Jamal | Malik | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Beauty, handsome | king |
| Origin | arabic | arabic |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | juh-MAHL | MAH-lik |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1946 | 1949 |
| Peak year | 1993 (1,245) | 1996 (4,026) |
| In 2025 | 169 | 724 |
| Trend | Declining | Declining |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Jamal | Malik |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,268 | 4,755 |
| 2010s | 3,266 | 9,210 |
| 2000s | 5,898 | 14,766 |
| 1990s | 10,265 | 17,951 |
| 1980s | 7,187 | 1,427 |
| 1970s | 4,691 | 1,348 |
| 1960s | 558 | 139 |
| 1950s | 91 | 6 |
| 1940s | 11 | 5 |
From Arabic جمال (jamāl), the abstract noun 'beauty', from the root j-m-l. Jamal is the masculine name built directly on this root and is well established as 'beauty' or 'handsome'.
Arabic 'malik' means 'king', from the Semitic root m-l-k ('to rule, to be king'). Al-Malik ('The King') is one of the names of God in Islam. Cognate with Hebrew 'melech'.
Malik is more popular than Jamal today: about 724 US babies were given the name Malik in 2025, compared with 169 named Jamal.
Jamal means Beauty, handsome (arabic origin), while Malik means king (arabic origin).
In US records, Jamal first appears in 1946 and Malik in 1949, so Jamal has the longer recorded history.