Malik

From Arabic usage, commonly associated with “king” or “owner/master,” depending on context.

Malik is a masculine name used across many Arabic-speaking communities and also widely adopted internationally. In Arabic it’s connected to a word family around ownership and kingship, which is why quick translations vary between “king” and “owner/master.” In some Islamic contexts, related forms such as al-Malik (“The King”) appear as an epithet, so the word family has religious and cultural resonance even when Malik is used simply as a personal name. English pronunciation is often muh-LEEK, while Arabic pronunciation may be closer to MAH-lik depending on speaker. Romanized spelling variants like Malek are also common.

Etymology: From Arabic roots related to possession and kingship; the written form مالك can be read with different vowels in Arabic, which is why summaries sometimes gloss it as “king” and sometimes as “owner.”