Father Christmas vs Santa Claus

[squeaver]

Me and dh are both Scottish, but now we live in London.

We ONLY ever refer to the big fat red one as Santa, as do all our families.

Dd's friends and their families seem to only ever call him Father Christmas.

Now she thinks there's 2 of them, both bringing her presents.

Is this a Scottish/English thing? Just curious.

I am scottish and grew up with father christmas, I adopted england and along with it father christmas, I moved back to Scotland and brought father christmas with me.

oh and FOR THE RECORD: he lives at the NORTH POLE. (lapland?? lapland?? no no no no)

from wikipedia:
The traditional Father Christmas was neither a gift bringer, nor associated with children. However, during the Victorian era, when Santa Claus arrived from America, he has been merged with the character called "Sir Christmas", "Lord Christmas" or "Old Father Christmas" to create Father Christmas, the British Santa which survives today. Nowadays, most Britons use the expressions Father Christmas and Santa Claus as synonyms.

DH & I -FC (english... well DH mostly english)
DD- Farmer Christmas
This seems to be universal amongst small children... maybe there should actually be a farmer christmas?

doesnt matter in our house- he can be either. funny though- dd2 (2.8) refers to him as farmer kissmas.

We call him Father Christmas. He's called Santa in a book I'm reading dd at the moment and she keeps stopping me and saying 'no mummy it's not Santa it's father christmas you silly banana'

Father Christmas sounds all stiff and formal

Definitely Father Christmas or Saint Nick

Father Christmas, we are Welsh.

I always thought Santa was an Americanism.

Definitely a Scottish/English thing. I’m Scottish and we always said Santa but DP is English and says Father Christmas. I’m winning with Santa for our kids (except when they speak to MIL who replies “who’s Santa? Do you mean Father Christmas?” Grrrrrr)

He's always been Father Christmas to me and mine, but my kids always knew he had another name.

I once read somewhere that the name Father Christmas arose during WW1 - Santa Claus sounded a bit too German at the time for many people's liking.
Don't know how true that is, but it sounds plausible.

stop saying Santa is American when just about every Scot had explained they say Santa too! (As I do)

I know this is a zombie thread but still v interesting. This has literally blown my mind. I have never called him anything other than Santa Claus my entire life (I'm 34) and all grandparents referred to him as such when I was little so I don't buy that it's an Americanism.

I'm from the north of England

Santa Claus is derived from Saint Nicholas, and is common across Europe, the Americas, most of the world really, including being the dominant form on some home nations of the UK

Father Christmas otoh is pretty much English only, is pagan (associated with Yule, the winter festival so much old than Christmas) and is essentially a form of The Green Man.

Howaboutcleveland This is about the 5th zombie thread you've revived this morning. Is it really necessary?

Santy here too (another Irish lass).

Everyone where we live tends to refer to Santa, or Santa Claus, but is interchangeable with Father Christmas due to American movies etc.

But they all know it refers to the same man in red.

When Dd was tiny she called him Far Piss puss!

Father Christmas!! Always!!

I too assumed Santa Claus was an American name, because of the link with Coca Cola. It does seem that most kids nowadays say Santa, even if their parents say Father Christmas, probably due to films like Home Alone and Elf. I really hope the name Father Christmas doesn't die out☹️🎅🏻

Can I just get in well before Halloween and say that Guising (or trick or treating) AND Santa were Scottish first and the Americans nicked them

It's Santa.

What a weird zombie thread to resurrect.

And it's Santa. (Irish)

I'm Welsh and grew up with Father Christmas. Well, not THE actual Father Christmas.....

Anyway I now refer to him as Santa. I've always thought FC was British and Santa was American? 🎗

I'm Welsh. I say FC.
Lived in Scotland once for a while and it was all Santa there. Or even even Santy.

Santy here too, Santa if you're yuppie or moving to the Southside of Dublin and trying to fit in

Oddly in Irish, he's Daidí na Nollag, which translates as Father Christmas.

St Nick, however, refers to the Devil. Makes reading the poem The night before Christmas interesting.

Father Christmas. 2008 I thought threads didn't last that long!

Santa Clause = St Nicolas = French accent = Auld Alliance = Scotland.

English = heathens = not friends with France = Father Christmas :o