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The usual listing is that given in the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas". In the poem, Santa exhorts eight reindeer by name, the list being:Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen!

On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!

I don't know why Moore (the poem's author) chose those specific names, but choose them he did, and they've been traditional since.

(Donner and Blitzen are Germanic names meaning respectively "Thunder" and "Lightning", if you've ever wondered.)

The most popular addition to the canon came in 1939, when Robert May came up with a coloring book for Sears to give away entitled "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Since then, Rudolph is usually listed as the "ninth reindeer" (or first, since he supposedly occupies the lead position).

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10y ago

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