In 1939, Robert May, a copywriter for Montgomery Ward, wrote a promotional Christmas poem for that Chicago department store.
The main character in the poem was “Rollo” the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but the corporate executives didn’t like that name, nor did they approve of May’s second suggestion, “Reginald.”
It was May’s four-year-old daughter who came up with “Rudolph,” and the title for the Christmas classic stuck.
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was first sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York city radio in late 1948.
