Django
A masculine name of Romani origin referring to a person who moves freely.
Name Census estimates that about 287 living Americans carry the first name Django. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Django today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Django births was 2011 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Django. 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
287
~ 1 in 1,194,266 Americans
Peak year
2011
28 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,750
Tracked since 1970
Popularity
Django: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Django from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 127 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Django 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 Django during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Djangos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Django
The given name Django is thought to have its origins in the Romani language, spoken by the Romani people who migrated from the Indian subcontinent to Europe and beyond starting in the 10th century AD. In the Romani language, the word "dzhango" meant "wakeful" or "uncommonly alert."
Some linguists trace the etymology further back to the Sanskrit word "jhaNga," meaning "thin, lively or clever." As the Romani people traveled through various regions, the pronunciation and spelling evolved into forms like "Djangos," "Dzhango" and eventually "Django."
The earliest known records of the name Django date back to the 16th century, when it appeared in documents and registries related to Romani communities in parts of Eastern Europe like Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. By the 17th century, the name had spread to Western Europe as Romani groups migrated further.
One of the earliest notable people with the first name Django was Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), the pioneering Romani-French jazz guitarist who helped popularize gypsy jazz and remains renowned for his musical virtuosity despite losing use of two fingers in a fire.
Other historical figures named Django include Django Candrakanti (1916-1984), an Indonesian author, playwright and journalist celebrated for his contributions to modern Indonesian literature. Django Mihailovic (1898-1946) was a Serbian general and leader of the World War II Chetnik movement, whose surname may have been inspired by the Romani first name.
In the realm of sports, Django Elliott (1919-2012) was a cricketer who played Test cricket for South Africa in the 1940s. And Django Frazier (born 1932) is an American former professional basketball player who competed in the early years of the NBA.
People
Django + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Django 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
Django: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Django?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 287 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Django 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 1,194,266 US residents.
Is Django a common name?
We classify Django as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Django most popular?
The single biggest year for Django was 2011, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Django is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Django a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Django 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.