diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/CHANGELOG.md b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/CHANGELOG.md
index ea9b3f56a7..d3de446730 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Changed span name extraction from request to comply semantic convention ([#992](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/992)) 
+
 ## Version 0.13b0
 
 Released 2020-09-17
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
index 2c155b1be1..59f7e6e622 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/django/middleware.py
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@
 from opentelemetry.trace import SpanKind, get_tracer
 from opentelemetry.util import ExcludeList
 
+try:
+    from django.core.urlresolvers import (  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
+        resolve,
+        Resolver404,
+    )
+except ImportError:
+    from django.urls import resolve, Resolver404
+
 try:
     from django.utils.deprecation import MiddlewareMixin
 except ImportError:
@@ -50,17 +58,33 @@ class _DjangoMiddleware(MiddlewareMixin):
     else:
         _excluded_urls = ExcludeList(_excluded_urls)
 
-    def process_view(
-        self, request, view_func, view_args, view_kwargs
-    ):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+    @staticmethod
+    def _get_span_name(request):
+        try:
+            if getattr(request, "resolver_match"):
+                match = request.resolver_match
+            else:
+                match = resolve(request.get_full_path())
+
+            if hasattr(match, "route"):
+                return match.route
+
+            # Instead of using `view_name`, better to use `_func_name` as some applications can use similar
+            # view names in different modules
+            if hasattr(match, "_func_name"):
+                return match._func_name  # pylint: disable=protected-access
+
+            # Fallback for safety as `_func_name` private field
+            return match.view_name
+
+        except Resolver404:
+            return "HTTP {}".format(request.method)
+
+    def process_request(self, request):
         # request.META is a dictionary containing all available HTTP headers
         # Read more about request.META here:
         # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/request-response/#django.http.HttpRequest.META
 
-        # environ = {
-        #     key.lower().replace('_', '-').replace("http-", "", 1): value
-        #     for key, value in request.META.items()
-        # }
         if self._excluded_urls.url_disabled(request.build_absolute_uri("?")):
             return
 
@@ -73,7 +97,7 @@ def process_view(
         attributes = collect_request_attributes(environ)
 
         span = tracer.start_span(
-            view_func.__name__,
+            self._get_span_name(request),
             kind=SpanKind.SERVER,
             attributes=attributes,
             start_time=environ.get(
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
index 3250ac0c1c..ee82c5d7d9 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/test_middleware.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from sys import modules
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
+from django import VERSION
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.conf.urls import url
 from django.test import Client
@@ -28,7 +29,16 @@
 from opentelemetry.util import ExcludeList
 
 # pylint: disable=import-error
-from .views import error, excluded, excluded_noarg, excluded_noarg2, traced
+from .views import (
+    error,
+    excluded,
+    excluded_noarg,
+    excluded_noarg2,
+    route_span_name,
+    traced,
+)
+
+DJANGO_2_2 = VERSION >= (2, 2)
 
 urlpatterns = [
     url(r"^traced/", traced),
@@ -36,6 +46,7 @@
     url(r"^excluded_arg/", excluded),
     url(r"^excluded_noarg/", excluded_noarg),
     url(r"^excluded_noarg2/", excluded_noarg2),
+    url(r"^span_name/([0-9]{4})/$", route_span_name),
 ]
 _django_instrumentor = DjangoInstrumentor()
 
@@ -65,7 +76,9 @@ def test_traced_get(self):
 
         span = spans[0]
 
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "traced")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            span.name, "^traced/" if DJANGO_2_2 else "tests.views.traced"
+        )
         self.assertEqual(span.kind, SpanKind.SERVER)
         self.assertEqual(span.status.canonical_code, StatusCanonicalCode.OK)
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.method"], "GET")
@@ -84,7 +97,9 @@ def test_traced_post(self):
 
         span = spans[0]
 
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "traced")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            span.name, "^traced/" if DJANGO_2_2 else "tests.views.traced"
+        )
         self.assertEqual(span.kind, SpanKind.SERVER)
         self.assertEqual(span.status.canonical_code, StatusCanonicalCode.OK)
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes["http.method"], "POST")
@@ -104,7 +119,9 @@ def test_error(self):
 
         span = spans[0]
 
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "error")
+        self.assertEqual(
+            span.name, "^error/" if DJANGO_2_2 else "tests.views.error"
+        )
         self.assertEqual(span.kind, SpanKind.SERVER)
         self.assertEqual(
             span.status.canonical_code, StatusCanonicalCode.UNKNOWN
@@ -136,3 +153,24 @@ def test_exclude_lists(self):
         client.get("/excluded_noarg2/")
         span_list = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
         self.assertEqual(len(span_list), 1)
+
+    def test_span_name(self):
+        Client().get("/span_name/1234/")
+        span_list = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
+        self.assertEqual(len(span_list), 1)
+
+        span = span_list[0]
+        self.assertEqual(
+            span.name,
+            "^span_name/([0-9]{4})/$"
+            if DJANGO_2_2
+            else "tests.views.route_span_name",
+        )
+
+    def test_span_name_404(self):
+        Client().get("/span_name/1234567890/")
+        span_list = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
+        self.assertEqual(len(span_list), 1)
+
+        span = span_list[0]
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "HTTP GET")
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/views.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/views.py
index b5a2930404..e286841011 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/views.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-django/tests/views.py
@@ -19,3 +19,9 @@ def excluded_noarg(request):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
 
 def excluded_noarg2(request):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
     return HttpResponse()
+
+
+def route_span_name(
+    request, *args, **kwargs
+):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+    return HttpResponse()