How to say it
JA · son
/ˈdʒeɪ.sən/
Masculine
Jason
Healer
What it means
Greek Iasōn, from the verb iasthai ('to heal'). The leader of the Argonauts in Greek myth, who sailed on the Argo to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Friday the 13th's hockey-masked Jason Voorhees is the horror-genre counterweight.
Jason comes from the Greek Iasōn, from iasthai ('to heal'). In Greek myth Jason is the leader of the Argonauts, the hero who sailed the Argo with fifty companions to retrieve the Golden Fleece from Colchis; his story is the basis of Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica and Euripides's Medea. The name was rare in English until the 1970s, then surged hard — peaked at #2 in 1977. The horror franchise Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees (1980) gave the name an unwanted secondary anchor that lingered. The original Greek hero is what most parents reach for. Jason Statham, Jason Bateman, and Jason Momoa cover three different modern Hollywood eras. Common short: Jay.
Popularity over time
peaked at #2 in 1974, currently #165 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Pop culture
Two cultural anchors pulling in opposite directions: the Greek hero (Argonauts, Golden Fleece) and the slasher villain (Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees). Most current parents read the Greek.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Jason (Greek myth) Leader of the Argonauts, retrieved the Golden Fleece
- Jason Statham British actor, The Transporter and the Fast and Furious franchise
- Jason Momoa American actor, Aquaman and Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones
Spelling variants
- Jayson
- Jaison
Names with the same feeling
See Jason from another angle
By style