Santa Claus's reindeer are a team of flying reindeer traditionally held to pull his sleigh and help him deliver Christmas gifts. The commonly cited names of the reindeer are based on those used in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, arguably the basis of reindeer's popularity as Christmas symbols, where they are called Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, and Dunder and Blixem.[1] Dunder was later changed to Donder and � in other works � Donner, and Blixem was later changed to Blitzen.[1] The subsequent popularity of the Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has led to another reindeer name joining the popular roll-call. So originally eight!