I think that guy who wrote the poem The Night Before Christmas. Except for Rudolph, who was not in the poem.
From memory: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen. Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, Happy. Don’t ask me what I had for dinner last night.
Mrs. Claus did. She got tired of hearing Santa yell, "HEY, YOU THERE! YES, YOU! GET IN LINE! NOT YOU, YOU IDIOT....THE OTHER ONE! YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE, YOU WITH THE ANTLERS! WHADDA YA MEAN, YOU'VE ALL GOT ANTLERS? I SWEAR, NEXT YEAR I'M REPLACING ALL OF YOUSE WITH FLYING MULES!" So she named them and made Santa spend January through November memorizing their names. It was much more peaceful next year. "OK, Blitzen, you'll be yoked with Donder and yes, Comet, that's your spot right next to Vixen. Thank you all for being so cooperative. There will be extra oats in your year-end bonus."
Clement Clarke Moore is said (Google) to be the one who named Santa's reindeer with the exception of Rudolph. He wrote the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas aka Twas the Night Before Christmas December 1823 anonymously published in the Troy, New York Sentinel. Interesting FAQs answered: all eight reindeer are female though Prancer is questionable ; Donner and Blitzen originally Dunder and Blixem meaning thunder and lightning in Dutch.
"Prancer." LOL!!! I read that both male and female reindeer have antlers, but the males shed theirs after the mating season (so would be antler-less in December), while the females shed theirs after giving birth to their calves in the spring (they retain their antlers long enough to defend their calves.) The inference is that Santa's reindeer are not only female, they are pregnant while hauling his chubby butt all across the planet. The other possible scenario is that Santa's reindeer are castrated males (steers) who do not lose their antlers until February or March. Perhaps Prancer was of this group, leading to the speculation of his "status." Steers are used to pull sleds at this time of year because the intact males are too tuckered out (and too lean) from the mating season to do so. Regarding Rudolph: The Night Before Christmas was written in 1823. Rudolph was created 116 years later in 1939 by Robert May for Montgomery Ward stores (HQ in Chicago), who had been purchasing coloring books to give away during Christmas, and they thought they could save money by creating their own. The idea of Rudolph having a bright red nose was initially rejected because of it's association with being drunk (WC Fields would have been 59 years old in 1939), but when Mr. May presented an illustration of a cute red-nosed Rudolph, concerns were abated. The first mass-market version of Rudolph was published in 1947.
Wow !!!.... Van Jones and John Brunner..... You both have the exact answer.............................. Thanks Google ...!!!!! I thought it was a good question for this time of the year... Nobody had the answer without looking it up..
@Steve North I particularly like knowing about Donner and Blitzen's original name that's a good trivia question.
I’m glad ya’ll answered that question because frankly speaking, my brain is too busy mulling over whether it’s okay to give my wife a gift card for accordion lessons for Christmas. Maybe she’ll know how to play Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer by next Christmas provided that I buy her an accordion for her birthday in January.
I had no idea that Santa's reindeer are either female or castrated (poor Rudolph.) And I don't believe I have ever before heard the name of the author of that famous poem. I doubt that I'll retain it...even now I have to keep going back and looking. But there is controversy surrounding who the true author really was (according to the oracle known as Wiki): -Moore was a Christian, being a Professor of Literature and Divinity & Biblical Learning at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City. The story is decidedly secular. -The poem was first published anonymously in December 1823 in a New York newspaper. -It wasn't until 14 years later (1837) that the work was attributed to Moore in a journalist's Book of Poetry, to which Moore has submitted several poems in the past. - Seven years after that (1844) and 21 years after the original printing of the poem, Moore included the poem in an anthology of his works, encouraged by his children, for whom he claims to have originally written it. -The controversy exists between literary scholars, as no claim of authorship has ever been asserted by anyone but Moore. -The most interesting piece of evidence is--as @Von Jones pointed out--the original Dutch names of Donner and Blitzen. The pro-Moore people say that this was either due to a printing error or to Moore's poor spelling, as he did not speak Dutch. The other side says this bolsters their claim that the poem was written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr., a New Yorker of Dutch and Scottish roots. Hmm.....
And the song, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was written by Johnny Marks, who was the brother-in-law of Robert L. May (the man who created that story for Montgomery Ward). It had an introduction listing the 8 reindeer names. I always thought Gene Autry wrote it. Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949.