Have you ever stopped to wonder where the phrase "Merry Christmas" actually comes from?

Have you ever stopped to wonder where the phrase "Merry Christmas" actually comes from? After all, for most other holidays, we use the word "happy." In a world where "Happy Easter" and "Happy Birthday" are the norm, that "merry" part of "Merry Christmas" is unique—to say the least.

No one is entirely certain of the answer, but there are several interesting theories.

Yes! It's important to note that "Happy Christmas" hasn't faded completely—it's still widely used in England. This is believed to be because "happy" took on a higher class connotation than "merry," which was associated with the rowdiness of the lower classes.

The royal family adopted "Happy Christmas" as their preferred greeting. In fact, each year, Queen Elizabeth continues to wish her citizens a "Happy Christmas," rather than a merry one.

But "Merry Christmas" has been used since at least 1534—a dated letter from bishop John Fisher to Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell reveals as much. The English carol, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which was introduced in the 1500s, also uses the popular phrase.

Merry Christmas! Blithely do we use this phrase as greeting, farewell or exclamation of joy with little thought to the book that made it famous. Although it was in use from the 16th century, it was Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol –published exactly 175 years ago – that really popularised it.

So when did "Happy Christmas" become "Merry Christmas"?

Historians believe it might boil down to a simple grammatical lesson. "Happy" is a word that describes an inner emotional condition, while "merry" is more of a behavior descriptor—something active and maybe even raucous. Consider, for example, the free-spirited act of "merry-making" versus the state of simply "being happy."