How many reindeer does Santa have guiding his sleigh?

When you say the word “Christmas,” Santa of course is the first to come to mind. But Old St. Nick wouldn’t be able to do his very important job on the night of Christmas Eve every year without his loyal reindeer guiding his sleigh!

You may have thought that the story of Santa and his reindeer came out in more recent years. But actually, there’s a whole history behind Father Christmas and his trusty herd.

So how many of them does he have on hand? We’ve got the answer for you below!

How many reindeer does Santa have guiding his sleigh?

Have you ever counted just how many reindeer are leading Santa’s sleigh in illustrations? Well you’ll find there are eight. But the story didn’t start out that way.

Santa and his reindeer all started with an illustrated children’s poem that first appeared, Old Santeclaus with Much Delight, in 1821. Both the author of the poem and the illustrator are not known. At this time, only one reindeer was pictured.

Then two years later, Clement C. Moore published a poem called A Visit form St. Nicholas, aka ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, in 1823. That’s when the eight reindeer we know today are first mentioned. Their names are:

• Dasher, known for her speed
• Dancer, encourages the other reindeer
• Prancer, a lively reindeer who likes to show off
• Vixen, the entertainer
• Comet, the caring one
• Cupid, loves to spread love
• Dunder, means “thunder” in Dutch and is also known as Donder
• Blixem, means “lightning” in Dutch and is also known as Blitzen

Is Rudolph one of Santa’s reindeer?

Of course, we can’t forget about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! He’s the most famous of them all. But Rudolph wasn’t introduced into the herd until 1939 by author Robert L. May. The story was meant to be as an advertisement for a chain of department stores, the book given to children who came in during Christmas shopping.

Still, we have to consider Rudolph one of Santa’s reindeer! After all, he helped out the big man in red the first time on a foggy night on Christmas Eve. His bright red nose certainly made him go down in history. Rudolph is the most beloved reindeer of all! And so that means Santa has a total of nine reindeer!