TL;DR - SinterKlass become Santa Claus
Written 7th July 2022 | Subscribe to our Christmas newsletter
How did St Nicholas go on to be Santa Claus?
Santa Claus has been around for years, and it has recently been shortened to just 'Santa' so where did this name come from?
In the 16th Century, the stories of St Nicholas faded in Europe, and various countries adopted their own person to deliver presents at Christmas.
In the USA they referred to him as Kris Kringle. It is not sure how this developed in Santa Claus. Some believe that as the Dutch settled in the USA stories of St Nicholas (Sinterklaas the shorted nickname of Sint Nicolas in Dutch) were told and Sinterklaas became Santa Claus.
The name Santa Claus is now used in many countries, watch this space. Will one day every country across the world call him Santa Claus?
