It was one of the bosses of the American department stores who invented Santa Claus (Father Christmas) to sell presents to kids. I assume he was a man and chose a man as his "sales" guy.
We can get into political correctness on another thread, but as it's the theme here, I find PC people very illiberal, always have. They only tolerate you if you accept their view of things. So, it's an acceptance of a PC agenda, but using a sledge hammer.
But, as I said, I am looking forward to seeing, what, if anything, has changed with the new female Dr.
Are you sure about that?
I was under the impression that he comes from St Nicolas, Dutch settlers took the legend with them to the US, and that is an anglicised version of his Dutch nickname.