Oz author L. Frank Baum
Clement Moore’s version of Santa’s reindeer team was not the only one. Children’s author L. Frank Baum, known for his Oz series, offered a competing version: A team of ten (!) named Flossie and Glossie, Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady. The names used a rhyming, alliterative style similar to Moore’s, reflecting the salient characteristics of their owners. They were featured in Baum’s imaginative Santa Claus biography, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, in which Baum states Santa was a foundling who was raised by a wood nymph. But in the end it was Moore’s version that stuck in public consciousness, not Baum’s.
The book is in public domain and you can read it here on Gutenberg.com, along with a short story, “The Kidnapping of Santa Claus.” Look up the covers of the latter (it’s freely printed, as it’s also in public domain) and you’ll find Santa in a number of lurid bondage situations.
Over the years other reindeer have been added to the mix if not to the team.
The 1964 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer added Rudolph, of course, but also a young deer called Fireball who is his rival and a female reindeer, Clarice, who served as a love interest. (Clarice had a mother who was a character, but she wasn’t named.) There’s a scene in which Rudolph and Fireball are training to make Santa’s team that year, which implies that the team changes composition every Christmas; Moore’s lineup was but one of many. It’s an interesting idea that isn’t carried further. Santa, of course, is immortal, but since the reindeer couple off and have offspring, they are not, and when a team member can’t make the cut anymore, he is replaced.
(I say “he” because only male reindeer make up the team. Which may have been par for the course for 1964 sexual norms, but also shows the zoological ignorance of the writer(s) — not only male reindeer have horns, females can sport them as well, depending on the reindeer subspecies. So there’s no reason half the team, or all of it, couldn’t be female.)
Another version of Rudolph appeared in 1998. The story was similar in that he is mocked for his nose and runs away, but otherwise the story goes in a different direction. In this one the rival is Arrow and the love interest, Zoey. Another female deer is named Mitzi. Again the team are all male.
If we run with reindeer naming conventions from the Rudolph universe, male deer are given bold, active, masculine names, and females, human female ones. That Rudolph breaks the mold for a male reindeer name is a head-scratcher and adds to his rather sissified status. (Robert L. May, Rudolph’s creator, considered naming him the more macho-sounding Rollo.)
Other reindeer from modern media are Bobtail, Thrasher, and, of course, Olive the Other Reindeer.
Since it’s fair to say Santa’s reindeer are all domesticated reindeer, another way they might be named is by location. Native herders still live in Russia, northern Canada, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Alaska, and it’s from these places I randomgenned the names below. (The Inuit ones are real, though!)
Some Names for Santa’s Reindeer
| Finnish
Arukko Esski Kalfamarska Markki Matopu Meevar Moonjoika Siivo Smuls Taika Toomar Tunomo Ursi |
Russian
Byez Bysho Fyustrov Gertev Khyuv Kyatna Merva Sedansk Tetsla Tyok Yaril Yullerina Zinya |
Sami *
Andija Birki Caija Gaivvas Imba Julla Junkil Milot Mures Olen Saibi Sejo Valter |
Inuit
Chulyin Desna Iqniq Kassuq Nauja Nirliq Olikpok Qannik Sesi Sirmiq Sos Suka Tapeesa |
* Sami are the ethnic reindeer herders of Scandinavia.
This picture shows a herder and some typical domestic reindeer. Notice how small they are compared to elk and moose! This gives added weight to the line in Clement Moore’s poem: “And what to my wondering eyes then appeared, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer…”
