# Were you led to believe Santa's Reindeer were male? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 7, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559 "2003-12-07T16:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/41 "2024-12-21T00:11:58Z")
Eh. Reindeer or Reindoe. Who cares? Where are the wings? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/42 "2024-12-21T00:12:31Z")
When I was young, I thought that all reindeer had antlers all the time. I don’t believe I ever saw a picture of a reindeer without them. So I assumed that some of Santa’s reindeer were male and some were female. I didn’t particularly assign the names in the poem to genders. I just assumed that they lined up two-by-two - - like the animals walking onto the ark. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/43 "2024-12-21T00:19:37Z")
> [@Isabelle](#): > > Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting > Santa’s reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen - had to be a girl! > [@flodnak](#): > > and flightless. An important characteristic of reindeer is their pure and complete flightlessness. So if Santy can make reindeer fly, why can’t he make boy reindeer maintain their antlers until after Christmas? They are magic reindeer that fly and are pretty smart. But Vixen is clearly a female name. Of the original canonical 8, 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!_ I would have to say none of the names are clearly male. Dancer & Prancer sound female. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/44 "2024-12-21T00:33:04Z")
North Pole penguins all come from Hoboken. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/45 "2024-12-21T00:45:27Z")
This is one of those issues that I don’t really Caribou about. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/46 "2024-12-21T01:38:05Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > North Pole penguins all come from Hoboken. Penguins is practically chickens. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/47 "2024-12-21T21:32:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > North Pole penguins all come from Hoboken. Pedantic answer They became extinct in about 1840. The Great Auk was the OG penguin. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/48 "2024-12-21T23:03:42Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > North Pole penguins all come from Hoboken. I thought they came from Chicago. > **[Blues Brothers- the Penguin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkowVU5mZI%2F)** > > The Classroom Desk by IDEO & Steelcase ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/49 "2024-12-21T23:08:22Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I thought they came from Chicago. Burpo’s reference comes from the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon, _8 Ball Bunny_, in which Bugs agrees to help a lost penguin get home. After many travails to get the penguin to the South Pole, Bugs discovers that the penguin, who performs in an ice show, was born in Hoboken. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg5FC_VUYAAXYs0.jpg:large) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg5FC_VUYAAXYs0.jpg:large) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/50 "2024-12-22T00:25:55Z")
Oh! I’m dyyyyy-in’ again! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/51 "2024-12-22T01:21:43Z")
We used to visit my son in Redmond, WA every Christmas for about 15 years and their local amateur theater group (called Studio East) put on a show every year called " 'Twas". It was locally written and changed a bit every year. They had a reindeer chorus line and, except for Rudolph, were all women wearing antlers. Our 4 grandchildren there all went through it at their various ages. Before that I had no particular thoughts about the reindeer sexes. For all I know they are still putting on this show. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/52 "2024-12-22T01:24:51Z")
I am another who never considered the gender of the reindeer. I just never thought about it one way or another. Until now. It does dawn on me now that the common depictions of reindeer don’t look much like reindeer, they look like whitetail deer, the deer Americans are most familiar with. Reindeer have a real different vibe. They are grayish, have big almost bovine heads carried low, and huge flat feet for walking on snow. I’m sure someone could make a cute caricature of reindeer but I don’t recall seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/53 "2024-12-23T01:33:34Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’m sure someone could make a cute caricature of reindeer but I don’t recall seeing it. Sven from _Frozen_ comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/54 "2024-12-23T01:58:34Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Sven from _Frozen_ comes to mind. good one. I did not see it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/55 "2024-12-23T19:52:14Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’m sure someone could make a cute caricature of reindeer but I don’t recall seeing it. Have you seen The Santa Clause? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/56 "2024-12-23T20:13:09Z")
Honestly since they all have antlers in the movie I thought they were male. Was it deliberate? Probably. Or at the very least unconscious bias. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/57 "2024-12-23T20:21:00Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Per the recent documentary _Red One_, the deer are _huge_ with very impressive racks. But they also show technology that can change the size of both animate and inanimate objects. So perhaps Santa just embiggens the tiny reindeer for the intimidation factor, since we also see several Christmas-hostile entities in play. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/58 "2024-12-23T21:34:21Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I should also point out that the only credible eyewitness account we have describes a “miniature sleigh.” Therefore, all the so-called photographic evidence we have that shows antlered reindeer pulling a NORMAL sleigh is obviously bogus. > > This eyewitness also completely fails to mention antlers AT ALL. ⁢ Yes, but Santa himself is a “right jolly old elf” and seems to be assumed to be smaller than we usually see him depicted. He just fits in chimneys. He’s in a miniature sleigh because he’s miniature. It’s all over the poem, to the point even his own daughter who illustrated his poem later [depicts him quite small](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelsea_mansion_house_crop.jpg): [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Chelsea_mansion_house_crop.jpg?20100628013927) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Chelsea_mansion_house_crop.jpg?20100628013927) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/59 "2024-12-23T22:05:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Have you seen The Santa Clause? Mm, I guess I avoid Christmas movies and children’s movies which means there might be a host of semi-accurate reindeer out there which are unknown to me. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559/60 "2024-12-25T16:57:43Z")
TCM has a program called _Christmas Past_, a collection of Christmas-themed short films from the early 20th Century. I recorded it Sunday night, and just watched it this morning. One of them is a 1925 film [Santa Claus](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236708/), directed by [Frank E. Kleinschmidt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_E._Kleinschmidt), which has a lot of footage filmed in Alaska, with a guy in a Santa Costume tending to caribou herds and driving a caribou-drawn sleigh. > **[Santa Claus (1925)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236708/mediaviewer/rm613371393/)** > > Santa Claus (1925) > **[Santa Claus (1925)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236708/mediaviewer/rm680480257/)** > > Santa Claus (1925) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-you-led-to-believe-santas-reindeer-were-male/217559.md?page=2)