While Santa Claus was Dutch, Kris Kringle came by way of the Germans who first settled in Pennsylvania and then spread out, particularly in the late 1800s. The name Kris Kringle, though, was ...

Still, before the 1830s, the substitution of Santa Claus for St. Nick was not in frequent use. In fact, prior to vastly increasing in general popularity toward the latter half of the 1800s, its ...

A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall.” Santa Claus with a child at the Trapper School in Nuiqsut, Alaska, on Nov. 29, 2002. AP Photo/Mark Thiessen AP Photo/Mark Thiessen ...

Ho, ho, ho It might feel like he has been around as long as the North Pole, but the Santa Claus name so frequently mentioned by Americans to refer to old Saint Nicholas come Christmas Eve is a ...