Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a song almost as likely to be heard as I’m dreaming of a White Christmas. Like all songs it has a little story and some trivia associated with it. Here is the modern story, and we’ll try and pull in some ancient stuff at the end to connect Rudolph with the far past.

Rudolph was not one of the reindeer mentioned in Clement Moore’s poem. All the other eight had names, and some people I know can name them all, and do. But Rudolph is the afterthought. Note that it's a guy reindeer name. That will cause interest later.