It was discovered on May 26, 1916, by French astronomer Frédéric Sy at the Algiers Observatory in Algeria, North Africa, and given the provisional designation 1916 a.
[1] The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.1 AU once every 4.71 years (1,722 days).
The bright S-type asteroid has a very high geometric albedo of 0.32.
El Djezaïr is the French spelling of the Arabic name for Algiers, the capital of Algeria.
The asteroid was the first minor planet to receive a name that consists of more than one word.