Mx Claus

A Santa figure that leaves gender unspecified. 🎅 Santa Claus is the bearded man of folklore and 🤶 Mrs. Claus is his wife; 🧑‍🎄 is not a third character from any story. It is the Santa role itself, open to anyone: the person who plays Santa at the office party, the friend handing out gifts, or you. On many phones it shows a clean-shaven face under the red hat, which is often the quickest way to tell it from 🎅.

Mx is an English title used in place of Mr, Mrs or Ms when gender is not stated or does not fit. It first appeared in print in the 1970s and spread in the 2000s; many nonbinary people use it, and so do people who simply prefer not to say. The emoji name borrows it to mean 'Santa, gender unspecified'. Sending the emoji says nothing about the sender's own identity unless the sender means it to.

Technically the emoji is 🧑 person joined to 🎄 Christmas tree, which is why a phone or app that does not support the sequence shows those two side by side instead of one figure. Like 🧑, it comes in five skin tones plus the default yellow, but has no separate man or woman forms; those jobs already belong to 🎅 and 🤶.

Is it political to send Mx Claus?

Usually not; in a greeting it reads as holiday cheer. When it appeared in 2020, some conservative commentary presented a gender-neutral Santa as an attack on Christmas, while other coverage welcomed it as inclusive, and some nonbinary people were glad to have a Santa who could look like them. In a 'Merry Christmas 🧑‍🎄🎁' to family or colleagues none of that history shows; receivers simply see a Santa hat and read festivity. It reads as a statement mainly in a conversation that is already arguing about gender, where swapping 🎅 for 🧑‍🎄 will look deliberate. It is also a natural pick for Secret Santa notes and for any Santa whose gender you would rather not give away.