Dejan
A Serbian masculine name derived from a Slavic root meaning "gift."
Name Census estimates that about 320 living Americans carry the first name Dejan. It is a predominantly male name (96.1% of registrations). The average person named Dejan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dejan births was 2001 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dejan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
320
~ 1 in 1,071,107 Americans
Peak year
2001
21 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,964
Tracked since 1970
Gender
Gender distribution for Dejan
Dejan leans heavily male at 96.1% of total registrations, but 13 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Dejan as a male name
- Ranked #9,964 in 2021
- 7 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2000 (19 births)
Dejan as a female name
- Ranked #13,977 in 2001
- 6 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1996 (7 births)
Popularity
Dejan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dejan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 123 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Dejan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Dejan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dejans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dejan
The name Dejan is of Slavic origin, specifically from the Serbian language. It is derived from the older Slavic root "dej," which means "to give." This name likely originated in the early medieval period among the Serbs and other South Slavic peoples.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Dejan can be found in the medieval Serbian epic poem "The Mountain Wreath" by Petar Petrović Njegoš, which was written in the early 19th century. The poem features a character named Dejan who is a Serbian warrior.
In the 11th century, there was a Byzantine prince named Dejan who ruled the principality of Duklja, which was located in present-day Montenegro. He is considered one of the first rulers of the Serbian medieval state.
Another notable historical figure with the name Dejan was Dejan Milutinović, a Serbian military leader and politician who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He played a significant role in the Serbian uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
In the world of sports, Dejan Savićević was a celebrated Montenegrin football player who played for various clubs, including AC Milan and Red Star Belgrade, throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He was also a member of the Yugoslav national team.
Dejan Petković is a Serbian actor and director who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1980s. Some of his most notable works include the films "Underground" and "The Trap."
The name Dejan has also been used by several writers and poets throughout history, such as Dejan Medaković, a Serbian poet and literary critic who lived in the 20th century, and Dejan Stojanović, a contemporary Serbian writer and journalist.
People
Dejan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dejan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dejan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dejan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 320 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dejan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,071,107 US residents.
Is Dejan a common name?
We classify Dejan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 330 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dejan most popular?
The single biggest year for Dejan was 2001, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dejan is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Dejan a male name?
Yes, 96.1% of people registered as Dejan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.