Djuna
An uncommon feminine name derived from a French surname of uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 322 living Americans carry the first name Djuna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Djuna today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Djuna births was 1964 (198 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Djuna. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Djuna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
322
~ 1 in 1,064,454 Americans
Peak year
1964
198 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,879
Tracked since 1964
Census
Djuna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 374 people with the first name Djuna, which placed it at #25,370 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#25,370
National first-name rank
People counted
374
374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Djuna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Djuna is Black at 50.3%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Djuna described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Djuna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.3% · 188
- White38.0% · 142
- Two or more races5.6% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 6
Popularity
Djuna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Djuna from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 285 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Djuna 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 Djuna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Djunas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Louisiana, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Djuna, while Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Djuna
The name Djuna is believed to be a feminine variation of the Arabic name Juna, which means "refuge" or "shelter." The origins of this name can be traced back to the Middle East and North Africa, where it was likely first used during medieval times.
One of the earliest known references to the name Djuna can be found in the work of the renowned Sufi poet Rumi, who lived in the 13th century. In his poetry, Rumi often used the name Juna as a symbolic representation of the human soul seeking refuge in the divine.
The first recorded use of the spelling "Djuna" is attributed to the American writer and artist Djuna Barnes, who was born in 1892 and lived until 1982. Barnes, who was of English and Irish descent, adopted the spelling "Djuna" as a way to make her name more visually striking and unique.
Another notable figure with the name Djuna was Djuna Evelyn Moser, a German-American artist and sculptor who lived from 1888 to 1970. Moser was known for her abstract sculptures and her work in the Bauhaus movement.
In the realm of literature, Djuna Moss was an American poet and writer who lived from 1944 to 2022. She was known for her experimental poetry and her involvement in the Beat Generation literary movement.
Djuna Barnes, the American writer and artist mentioned earlier, is perhaps the most famous individual with this name. Her novel "Nightwood," published in 1936, is considered a seminal work of modernist literature and has been widely studied and analyzed by literary scholars.
While the name Djuna is not as common as some other names, it has a rich history and has been associated with several prominent figures in the arts and literature over the past century. Its unique spelling and origins make it a distinctive and intriguing name with a sense of mystery and intrigue.
People
Djuna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Djuna 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
Djuna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Djuna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 322 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Djuna 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 1,064,454 US residents.
Is Djuna a common name?
We classify Djuna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Djuna most popular?
The single biggest year for Djuna was 1964, when 198 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Djuna is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Djuna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 374 people with the name Djuna, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,370 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Djuna in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Djuna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Djuna leans strongly female. 375 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Djuna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Djuna is Black at 50.3%. The next largest groups are White (38.0%) and Two or More Races (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Djuna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Djuna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.3% (188 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Djuna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Djuna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Djuna in the SSA data are female. 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.
Is Djuna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Djuna in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Djuna can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are called Djuna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.