Jason

Jason is one of our faves. Mostly because he’s so modern and late-20th-century-über-trendy, yet he’s really as ancient as they come. This name has a nice mix of the old and the new. Essentially, Jason is the English form of the Greek Iásōn (Ιασων) believed to have been derived from the verb “iȃsthai” meaning “to heal, treat” or “iȃtrikós” meaning “healing”. The oldest appearance of this name dates back centuries before Christ in the form of a Greek mythological hero, Jason, and his quest for the Golden Fleece (the wool of a magical, golden-haired winged-ram who had been sacrificed to the god Poseidon). In order to recapture his rightful heir to the throne of Iolcos, a position usurped by his power-hungry uncle Pelias, Jason was ordered to return with the Golden Fleece. Amassing a great army known as the Argonauts (named after their ship, the Argo), Jason and his men sailed to the eastern coast of the Black Sea where the Golden Fleece was guarded by a fierce dragon. The King of the region who owned the Fleece, King Aeëtes of Colchis, gave Jason three impossible tasks to perform before he could claim the Golden Fleece. Enter Medea, the daughter of King Aeëtes. Aphrodite had talked Eros into striking her with one of his “love-arrows” so that she would fall deeply in love with Jason. And lucky for Jason, too. The love sick Medea used her magical powers of sorcery to help Jason accomplish the three difficult tasks – the last of which was to get past the dragon guarding the Fleece (Medea gave a Jason a magic potion that put the dragon the sleep). She then helped Jason flee Colchis and her enraged father who gave chase. In the end, however, Jason would betray Medea, but we’ll leave that tragic tale to Euripides who wrote the play “Medea” in the 5th century B.C. Aside from Jason’s well-known place in the annals of Greek mythology, it is also a name that appears fleetingly in the New Testament (Acts 17 and Romans 1:16) as Jason, the bishop of Tarsus (appointed by Paul). He is also named as one of the Seventy Disciples. It was the Puritans who rediscovered the name Jason after the Protestant Reformation (17th century) as they did with so many other lesser-known or minor Biblical characters. They gave these names to their children in an act of modesty before God. Today you will find the name Jason on the Top 100 lists of most-favorite baby boy names in the United States, Ireland, Canada and the Netherlands.