Meaning and origin
Jace is an English short form of Jason, meaning “healer.” The longer name comes from Greek Iason and belongs to a group of Greek words connected with healing. Jace takes the opening sound of Jason and turns it into a compact one-syllable name.
Greek iasis means “healing,” while iaomai means “to heal.” These words explain the older meaning behind Jason and its familiar form. Jace is also used independently, with a substantial history in modern American birth records.
Jason’s classical background
In Greek mythology, Jason leads the Argonauts on their search for the Golden Fleece. His uncle Pelias has displaced Jason’s father as king, and the quest becomes part of Jason’s attempt to regain the throne.
That story gives the wider Jason family a major classical association. Jace shares the name’s origin through its role as a shortening, while its modern one-syllable form has a very different rhythm from the ancient Greek Iason.
Jason also appears in the New Testament as the name of a man who shelters Paul and Silas. The longer name’s use in Christian and classical traditions helped establish it before Jace developed its own independent popularity.
Pronunciation and related spellings
Jace is pronounced JAYS, rhyming with case. The final e marks the long a sound, while the c has an s sound. Its single syllable contrasts with the usual two-syllable English Jason.
Jase and Jayce are closely related spellings. Jay is another familiar form in the Jason family, while Jace keeps the s sound heard at the beginning of Jason’s second syllable.
The spelling’s four letters give it a concise shape in writing. Its relationship with Jason is audible in the shared opening, even when Jace is the full name recorded at birth.
Jace in television
The name received some American attention through a leading character in the western television series Tales of the Texas Rangers, which ran from 1955 to 1958. Its much larger rise in baby naming came later.
Actor Jace Norman provides a more recent screen connection. He starred as Henry Hart, also known as Kid Danger, in Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger from 2014 to 2020.
His work also included an animated version of the character and several television films. He later returned as Henry Hart in the related series Danger Force, giving the name a familiar bearer for a generation of children’s television viewers.
Popularity in the United States
Jace’s strongest American year for boys was 2013, when 6,401 babies received the name and it ranked number 66. It ranked number 75 in 2015, number 96 in 2020, and number 114 in 2025.
The figures place its strongest American use in the early twenty-first century, decades after its earlier television appearance.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.
How popular is Jace?
In 2025, Jace ranked #114 among boys in the United States, with 3,083 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1936; its largest annual count was 6,401 in 2013. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.