diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py b/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py
index b63b57a..55c7869 100644
--- a/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py
@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@ from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIHandler
 from django.core.servers.basehttp import AdminMediaHandler, run, WSGIServerException
 from django.utils import autoreload
 
-naiveip_re = r'^(?:(?P<addr>\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3}|\[[a-fA-F0-9:]+\]):)?(?P<port>\d+)$'
+naiveip_re = re.compile(r"""^(?:
+(?P<addr>
+    (?P<ipv4>\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3}) |         # IPv4 address
+    (?P<ipv6>\[[a-fA-F0-9:]+\]) |               # IPv6 address
+    (?P<fqdn>[a-zA-Z0-9-]+(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)*) # FQDN
+):)?(?P<port>\d+)$""", re.X)
 DEFAULT_PORT = "8000"
 
 class BaseRunserverCommand(BaseCommand):
@@ -33,28 +38,29 @@ class BaseRunserverCommand(BaseCommand):
 
     def handle(self, addrport='', *args, **options):
         self.use_ipv6 = options.get('use_ipv6')
-        if self.use_ipv6 and not hasattr(socket, 'AF_INET6'):
+        if self.use_ipv6 and not socket.has_ipv6:
             raise CommandError('Your Python does not support IPv6.')
         if args:
             raise CommandError('Usage is runserver %s' % self.args)
+        self._raw_ipv6 = False
         if not addrport:
             self.addr = ''
             self.port = DEFAULT_PORT
         else:
             m = re.match(naiveip_re, addrport)
             if m is None:
-                raise CommandError('%r is not a valid port number'
+                raise CommandError('"%s" is not a valid port number '
                                    'or address:port pair.' % addrport)
-            self.addr, self.port = m.groups()
+            self.addr, _ipv4, _ipv6, _fqdn, self.port = m.groups()
             if not self.port.isdigit():
                 raise CommandError("%r is not a valid port number." % self.port)
             if self.addr:
-                if self.addr.startswith('[') and self.addr.endswith(']'):
+                if _ipv6:
                     self.addr = self.addr[1:-1]
                     self.use_ipv6 = True
-                elif self.use_ipv6:
-                    raise CommandError('IPv6 addresses must be surrounded '
-                                       'with brackets, e.g. [::1].')
+                    self._raw_ipv6 = True
+                elif self.use_ipv6 and not _fqdn:
+                    raise CommandError('"%s" is not a valid IPv6 address.' % self.addr)
         if not self.addr:
             self.addr = self.use_ipv6 and '::1' or '127.0.0.1'
         self.run(*args, **options)
@@ -86,7 +92,7 @@ class BaseRunserverCommand(BaseCommand):
         ) % {
             "version": self.get_version(),
             "settings": settings.SETTINGS_MODULE,
-            "addr": self.use_ipv6 and '[%s]' % self.addr or self.addr,
+            "addr": self._raw_ipv6 and '[%s]' % self.addr or self.addr,
             "port": self.port,
             "quit_command": quit_command,
         })
diff --git a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
index 0985620..1150acb 100644
--- a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ Example usage::
 
 Run a FastCGI server as a daemon and write the spawned PID in a file.
 
-runserver [port or ipaddr:port]
+runserver [port or address:port]
 -------------------------------
 
 .. django-admin:: runserver
@@ -653,8 +653,10 @@ machines on the network, use its own IP address (e.g. ``192.168.2.1``) or
 
 .. versionchanged:: 1.3
 
-You can also provide an IPv6 address surrounded by brackets
-(eg. ``[200a::1]:8000``). This will automaticaly enable IPv6 support.
+You can provide an IPv6 address surrounded by brackets
+(e.g. ``[200a::1]:8000``). This will automatically enable IPv6 support.
+
+A hostname containing ASCII-only characters can also be used.
 
 .. django-admin-option:: --adminmedia
 
@@ -721,6 +723,14 @@ Port 7000 on IPv6 address ``2001:0db8:1234:5678::9``::
 
     django-admin.py runserver [2001:0db8:1234:5678::9]:7000
 
+Port 8000 on IPv4 address of host ``localhost``::
+
+    django-admin.py runserver localhost:8000
+
+Port 8000 on IPv6 address of host ``localhost``::
+
+    django-admin.py runserver -6 localhost:8000
+
 Serving static files with the development server
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~