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You are here: Home / Language / How Did Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Get His Name and Who Wrote the Christmas Song?

How Did Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Get His Name and Who Wrote the Christmas Song?

June 6, 2020 by Karen Hill

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.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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