Santa's Reindeer Names

There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that Christmas is incomplete without Santa Claus or St. Nicholas. Even tech savvy kids of today, look forward to the eve of Christmas - eagerly waiting for Santa to climb down the chimney and fill their stockings with Christmas gifts. Kids are not at all concerned about the skepticism surrounding Santa's existence. What they are concerned about is when will Santa Claus return with the bag full of gifts riding on his magnificent sleigh pulled by the nine flying reindeer. If Christmas is incomplete without Santa, then the legend of Santa Claus is incomplete without the nine reindeer who pull his sleigh and bring him to your neighborhood from the far off cold region where he resides. Did you know that each of these reindeer which pull Santa's sleigh have a name.

The Legend of Santa Claus

Santa Claus' reindeer are mythical creatures who are believed to pull Santa's sleigh and help him deliver Christmas gifts to all the kids in the world. The origin of the myth about reindeer, as well as Santa Claus as we know him today, can be attributed to a poem titled 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' or 'The Night Before Christmas' which was written way back in 1823. While most of the sources say that this poem was written by Clement Clarke Moore - a professor of Oriental and Greek literature at Columbia College, some sources give the credit to Henry Livingston, Jr. Irrespective of who the author was, one can't deny the fact that it was this poem which popularized the legend of Santa Claus - along with his physical appearance, tradition of bringing gifts to children and his reindeer pulled sleigh, as we know it today.

Santa's Reindeer: The Eight Original Ones

As far as Santa's reindeer are concerned, the existence of eight of the nine reindeer is attributed to the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'. The poem is the story of a man who wakes up in the middle of the night on hearing some noise outside his house on the eve of Christmas. When he peeks outside the house, he is welcomed by the sight of St. Nicholas in a sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer. The poem further describes how the man sees Santa's flying sleigh make its way to the chimney, from where Santa enters his house and fills the stockings kept by kids near the chimney with various gifts. Given below are the names of Santa's reindeer in order in which they appeared in the poem.

• Dasher
• Dancer
• Prancer
• Vixen
• Comet
• Cupid
• Donder
• Blitzen

In some sources, the names of the last two reindeer - Donder and Blitzen are given as Dunder and Blixem. Given below is the part of the famous Christmas poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' which talks about Santa guiding his reindeer around the world.

"More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

Santa's Ninth Reindeer: Rudolph

While the 1823 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' mentions eight reindeer, the 1939 booklet titled 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' resulted in inclusion of Rudolph - Santa's ninth reindeer, in the list. The book was written by Robert L. May and published by Montgomery Ward. While the other eight reindeer are depicted in pairs of two, Rudolph is often depicted alone as the lead reindeer of Santa's sleigh. The bright glow emitted from its nose makes Rudolph different from the others in the group. A poplar legend from the history of Santa Claus suggests that Rudolph was the most neglected reindeer in the lot, until Santa noticed that its glowing nose was an ideal makeshift lamp which could be used to follow the path on the foggy night of the Christmas. Since then, Rudolph became the most popular and loved reindeer in the lot (as well as one of the most famous attribute of the popular culture.)

You may come across other sources stating that the number of reindeer which pulled Santa's sleigh was ten, eleven, twelve, or somewhere in hundreds, but going by their origin the number of Santa's reindeer is nine (eight original ones and one added later.) At the same time, you also need to take into consideration the fact that different countries have different stories about Santa Claus - in which the names of these reindeer may to differ.