| Malik | Jamal | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | king | Beauty, handsome |
| Origin | arabic | arabic |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | MAH-lik | juh-MAHL |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1949 | 1946 |
| Peak year | 1996 (4,026) | 1993 (1,245) |
| In 2025 | 724 | 169 |
| Trend | Declining | Declining |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Malik | Jamal |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 4,755 | 1,268 |
| 2010s | 9,210 | 3,266 |
| 2000s | 14,766 | 5,898 |
| 1990s | 17,951 | 10,265 |
| 1980s | 1,427 | 7,187 |
| 1970s | 1,348 | 4,691 |
| 1960s | 139 | 558 |
| 1950s | 6 | 91 |
| 1940s | 5 | 11 |
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'.
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'.
Malik is more popular than Jamal today: about 724 US babies were given the name Malik in 2025, compared with 169 named Jamal.
Malik means king (arabic origin), while Jamal means Beauty, handsome (arabic origin).
In US records, Malik first appears in 1949 and Jamal in 1946, so Jamal has the longer recorded history.