Father Christmas or Santa

[LetterFromLorah]

A random question!

Since I started watching CBeebies and other children's programmes a few years ago with my son, I've noticed there seems to be a preference for 'Father Christmas' rather than 'Santa'.

I would have been aware of the phrase Father Christmas as a child but we would never, ever have actually referred to Santa as anything other than 'Santa'. It sounds really strange to me to hear children on TV talk about 'Father Christmas'.

I'm from Northern Ireland so I'm wondering if this is a regional thing?

I'm curious as to what other people think?

Father Christmas here (SE England).

Although DD2 tends to say Santa.

When I was a child in SE England it was Father Christmas so that's what I say to dcs

I grew up as a child with Father Christmas, so it's FC with my children too.

Mostly Father Christmas here, but we do use both.

Don't care - they are interchangeable here. (West England). As with Christmas and Xmas...

We say Father Christmas in my family & are in Cornwall.

Father Christmas here in se london

I say Father Christmas. I believe Santa Claus stems from early Europeans bringing Saint Nicholas to the US. They probably avoid Santa because it's seen as more American.

I think the Scandi spelling is something like Sintaklaas, where you can see the link more.

Father Christmas herein SW England. Santa Claus is an American-German name that has come over here. Whereas Father Christmas is like Pere Noel in France.

Father Christmas in London! I’ve always seen Santa as American.

Always Santa here, never Father Christmas. West of Scotland.

When I say early Europeans, I mean early European settlers of the US....

And 'they' means BBC. Sorry for being unclear!

Santa is American, it's Father Christmas in the UK.

Father Christmas all the way, NW England. It’s a Brit thing. It’s my pet hate that my Grand kids use the word Santa. It doesn’t help matters when the shops only sell stuff with the word Santa on it. Hubby says I should give up and that language changes but I refuse point blank to give up. IT’S FATHER CHRISTMAS!

Father Christmas

Always Santa here, from when I was a child (many, many years ago) until now. West of Scotland.

Father Christmas. Santa always sounds American to me.

My family called him Father Christmas.

Except for my little sister, who knew him as Farmer Christus.

Father Christmas here. I'm NW England but I don't know if it's a regional thing. It was always Father Christmas in our house growing up and I have carried that on. I prefer it. It's not a hill I'd die on but he's Father Christmas here.

Santa Claus ... West coast Scotland

Father Christmas. We're in Spain and it's Papa Noel here, so just translate it directly as FC.

I don't know what I grew up with, a mix of the two? Childhood spent travelling around: SW, Midlands, Scottish Highkands and SE

Father Christmas, in the deepest darkest south west.
Santa is American imo.

Ive never heard anyone refer to Santa as... Father Christmas 🤔

Thanks for replies, everyone!

General feeling seems to be Father Christmas although most people who mention their location are from England.

Couple of Scottish people who use Santa as well. I appreciate Santa is American in origin but we were using it as kids in the 1980s so I'm not going to change it now. Father Christmas genuinely sounds alien to me. Literally nobody in my area uses it.

Thanks again to everyone!

Farmer Christus