Xmas is a common abbreviation for Christmas that many Christiams object to, believing that it is less “Christian” than the ordinary spelling. The truth is that, in the Xmas version of the word, the X comes from the Greek letter Chi (X) – that is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός (Christ).

It was first used in the 16th century and rapidly gained in popularity. The abbreviation is found in a letter from George Woodward in 1753, Lord Byron used it in 1811, Samuel Coleridge in 1801 and Lewis Carroll in 1864.

Enemies of the abbreviation are a number of Christian evangelists who believe that it is a blasphemy of sorts against Christianity.

But, no, the word Xmas is not a secular attempt to remove the religious element from Christmas.