Santa's Reindeer Names in Order (and Why Aussie Kids Get Kangaroos)

Santa's reindeer names in order are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, plus Rudolph at the front. The first eight come from the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” first printed in the Troy Sentinel in New York on 23 December 1823.¹

Rudolph joined more than a century later, in 1939, as a booklet from a Chicago department store.²¹ And if your kids ask why a team of snow animals is turning up in an Australian summer, you are in good company: that question is older than most of us.

Below you will find all the names and what they mean, why Donner used to be called Dunder, the real science behind a red nose, and how Australian kids have solved the heat problem with a few kangaroos.

Santa's reindeer names in order

The order comes straight from the poem, where Santa calls out his team by name:

The first six names have not changed since 1823.¹ The poem was published anonymously and is usually credited to the New York professor Clement Clarke Moore.

What do the reindeer names mean?

Most names describe how the reindeer move: quick, light and lively. Vixen is the word for a female fox, Comet races through the sky, and Cupid is the Roman god of love. The last two are the most interesting, because they are not English at all.

Donner and Blitzen: thunder and lightning

In the first printing, reindeer seven and eight were called Dunder and Blixem, from the Dutch words for thunder and lightning. Moore changed them to Donder and Blitzen in 1844, and Donner became the standard spelling in the early 20th century.¹

Why does Santa use reindeer in an Australian summer?

The reindeer story was born in the northern hemisphere, where Christmas means snow. Australia has the opposite problem: on 25 December plenty of families are at the beach, at the pool or in the backyard with the sprinkler on. So parents get a very fair question: how do snow animals cope?

Real reindeer are built for the cold. Still, Australia does have a few. A handler from Warwick in Queensland has toured the east coast with his deer for 34 years, visiting shopping centres, daycare centres, nursing homes and parades. He says they are of German origin but more than 20 generations Australian bred, so they are used to the heat, and that taking them to the snow would likely kill them.³ We could not find an official count of how many reindeer live in Australia.

For the magic version, kids have plenty of answers. Santa's reindeer fly so high that the air up there is cold. Santa has special cooling magic for the Southern Hemisphere. Or he swaps his team for something that loves the sun.

The kangaroo idea: six white boomers

That last answer has a famous Australian song behind it. “Six White Boomers” tells the story of Santa leaving his reindeer behind and delivering presents in Australia with a team of kangaroos, because they cope with the summer heat better. “Boomer” is Aussie slang for a kangaroo.⁴ It first appeared on a 1961 album, and the kangaroo team has stuck around in Australian Christmas stories ever since.

The idea itself is bigger than one song. Plenty of Australian families now tell the kangaroo version in their own words, and it is a lovely way to give kids a Santa that is truly theirs. Nobody needs the lyrics to enjoy it: just ask your child to name the six kangaroos.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: the 9th reindeer

Rudolph was created by Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store in Chicago. The store gave the story away to kids as a Christmas booklet in 1939, about 2.5 million copies in that first year alone and 6 million by 1946.² In January 1947 the company handed the copyright to May himself.²

Songwriter Johnny Marks turned the story into a song, and Gene Autry's 1949 recording made it a hit.²¹ Then came television: the stop-motion special first aired on NBC in 1964 with Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman, and NBC calls it the longest-running Christmas TV special in history.⁵

Why is Rudolph's nose red?

Science has an answer. In 2012, researchers from the Netherlands and Norway published a study in the BMJ showing that reindeer noses have about 25 percent more blood vessels than human noses. The rich blood supply may protect the nose from freezing and help regulate brain temperature, and infrared images showed the reindeer noses really are red.⁶

Are Santa's reindeer girls?

Look at any picture of Santa's team: they all have antlers. That is a clue. Male reindeer usually drop their antlers before Christmas, while pregnant females keep theirs until spring.⁷

So a team with antlers on Christmas Eve is most likely female, or made of castrated males, which keep their antlers longer. Greg Finstad of the University of Alaska Fairbanks put it dryly: “You don't hook up your pregnant females to a sled.”⁷ Kids tend to love the idea that Comet and Cupid might be girls.

Are reindeer real?

Yes. Reindeer and caribou are the same species, Rangifer tarandus. Reindeer were brought from Siberia to western Alaska in 1892, and in Alaska they are domesticated livestock while caribou are wild.⁸ They cannot fly, but they are built for snow and cold, which is why Australian reindeer visits are a rare treat.

More Santa fun for the season

On Christmas Eve you can follow the whole team with our Santa tracker. Curious where Santa himself came from? Read St Nicholas vs Santa Claus, find out whether Coca-Cola invented Santa, and see how Santa does an Aussie summer Christmas.

Santa's reindeer: frequently asked questions

What are Santa's reindeer names in order?

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, in the order of the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Rudolph is usually added as the ninth reindeer at the front of the team.

How many reindeer does Santa have?

Eight in the original poem, nine if you count Rudolph, who joined in 1939. In Australia, some families like to add a tenth team: six white kangaroos.

How does Santa deliver presents in Australia when it is so hot?

However your family likes. Some kids say the reindeer take a rest and Santa uses a team of kangaroos, as in the song “Six White Boomers.” Others say the reindeer simply fly high enough where the air is cool, or that Santa starts early and gets the Aussie kids done first.

Are there real reindeer in Australia?

A few, yes. One touring handler near Warwick in Queensland has taken his reindeer to shopping centres and community events for about 34 years, and says they are more than 20 generations Australian bred (Queensland Country Life). We found no official count of how many reindeer live in Australia.

Are Santa's reindeer boys or girls?

If they still have antlers on Christmas Eve, very likely girls (or castrated males). Male reindeer usually drop their antlers before Christmas, while pregnant females keep theirs until spring.

Is it Donner or Donder?

Both are correct for their time. The 1823 poem said Dunder, Moore's 1844 version said Donder, and Donner became standard in the early 20th century.

Where did Rudolph come from?

Robert L. May wrote the story in 1939 for the Montgomery Ward department store in Chicago, which gave away about 2.5 million copies that year.

Sources

1. 1Wikipedia: Santa Claus's reindeer (en.wikipedia.org)
2. 2University of Utah: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (lib.utah.edu)
3. 3Queensland Country Life: Rocky and Radar, the reindeer delighting Australia (queenslandcountrylife.com.au)
4. 4Songfacts: Six White Boomers (songfacts.com)
5. 5NBC Insider: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, what to know (nbc.com)
6. 6ScienceDaily: Why Rudolph's nose is red (2012) (sciencedaily.com)
7. 7NBC News: Santa's reindeer are probably all girls (2008) (nbcnews.com)
8. 8National Park Service: Reindeer vs. caribou (nps.gov)