Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Jamal

Jamāl (جمال‎) is a name of Arabic origin and means “beauty, good-looks”. The name has been used widely among Arabic speakers in the Middle East and Northern Africa, but it was really African-Americans who popularized the name among English-speakers. In fact, Jamal was one of the first Arabic names to be adopted by Blacks as their own after the Civil Rights Movement. And what a “handsome” choice given the name’s meaning! The name was famously borne by a late 19th century Islamic ideologist and political activist named Jamal-al-Din al-Afghani who worked toward the unification of Muslim people against Western demands and pressure. In terms of the Western World today, Jamal is mostly considered an African-American masculine name.

All About the Baby Name – Jamal

Personality

OF THE BOY NAME JAMAL

The number one personality is a leader - strong and competitive. They are willing to initiate action and take risks. One personalities work hard toward their endeavors and have the ability to apply their creative and innovative thinking skills with strong determination. They believe in their ability to succeed and are too stubborn to be hindered by obstacles. Ones meet obstacles head-on with such mental vigor and energy that you better step aside. They resent taking orders, so don't try telling them what to do either. This is an intensely active personality, but they are also known as starters rather than finishers. They have a propensity to become bored and will move quickly to the next project if not properly challenged.  They are the ones to think up and put into action new and brilliant ideas, but they are not the ones to stick around and manage them. This personality has an enthusiastic and pioneering spirit. They are distinctly original.

Popularity

OF THE BOY NAME JAMAL

Jamal debuted on the American charts for the first time in 1968 and quickly rose to high levels of popularity (considering it was mainly restricted to the African-American community). Not surprisingly, Jamal has always maintained most of his success in states where there’s a high concentration of Blacks (Louisiana, Mississippi, Delaware and Maryland). Although since the mid-1990s, Jamal has given way to more fashionable African-American names (Demarco, Deon, Darius and Malik, for example). Because of this name’s “good-looking” etymology, it has also enjoyed a fair amount of crossover appeal (not to mention it remains in circulation among Arabic-speaking Americans). Nevertheless, Jamal appears to be losing favor in recent years. There’s something so cool about Jamal and it’s not just all about his handsome good-looks!

Quick Facts

ON JAMAL

GENDER:

Boy

ORIGIN:

African-American

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

2

RANKING POPULARITY:

754

PRONUNCIATION:

ja-MALL

SIMPLE MEANING:

Beauty, good-looks

Characteristics

OF JAMAL

Independent

Individualistic

Ambitious

Strong-willed

Inventive

Successful

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Jamal

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME JAMAL

We cannot find any significant literary characters by the name of Jamal

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME JAMAL

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Jamal


Popular Songs

ON JAMAL

We cannot find any popular or well-known songs with the name of Jamal


Famous People

NAMED JAMAL

Jamal Lewis (football player)
Jamal Crawford (basketball player)
Jamal Othman (Swiss figure skater)
Jamal Mashburn (basketball player)
Jamal Mayers (hockey player)
Jamal Anderson (football player)
Jamal Sampson (basketball player)
Jamal Strong (baseball player)
Jamal Williams (football player)

Children of Famous People

NAMED JAMAL

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Jamal

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME JAMAL

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Jamal