How Storms Get Their Names (And Why Katrina Will Never Be Used Again)

Every hurricane season, we watch storms march through the alphabet. Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby. The names sound almost friendly, like they could be your classmates. But there's actually a fascinating system behind these names, complete with rotating lists, international committees, and a graveyard of retired storm names that were too destructive to ever use again.

Let's break down how storms get their names, why we even bother naming them, and what it takes for a hurricane's name to be permanently retired.

The Basics: Six Lists on Repeat

For Atlantic hurricanes, there are six alphabetical lists of names maintained by the World Meteorological Organization that rotate every six years. That means the 2024 list (which started with Alberto and ended with William) will be used again in 2030. When a developing tropical system reaches sustained winds of at least 39 mph, it officially becomes a tropical storm and gets assigned a name. Once those winds hit 74 mph, it becomes a hurricane, but it keeps the same name it got as a tropical storm.

Each list contains 21 names in alphabetical order, alternating between male and female names. The letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are left out because names starting with those letters are less common and harder to understand across different spoken languages.

Here's what makes this system brilliant: storms are given short, distinctive names to avoid confusion and streamline communications. Imagine trying to track multiple storms using only latitude and longitude coordinates. "The storm at 25.3°N, 78.6°W is moving northwest while the system at 18.7°N, 65.2°W is strengthening" versus "Hurricane Maria is moving northwest while Tropical Storm Lee is strengthening." The difference is obvious.

Why We Started Naming Storms

For several hundred years, many hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the particular saint's day on which the hurricane occurred. You'd have Hurricane Santa Ana (July 26, 1825) or San Felipe hitting Puerto Rico on September 13 in both 1876 and 1928.

Some storms were named more randomly. A storm that hit a boat named Antje and ruined its mast was called "Antje's hurricane." Others were named after the places they devastated, like the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

An Australian meteorologist named Clement Wragge began giving women's names to tropical storms before the end of the 19th century. This practice caught on during World War II, when U.S. military meteorologists started naming storms after their wives and girlfriends to make tracking easier in their forecasts.

In the early 1950s, the U.S. started using the phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie), but that only lasted two years. In 1953, the National Hurricane Center originated the name lists, initially using only women's names.

The current system of alternating male and female names came into use for Atlantic storms in 1979, and the six rotating lists have been in place ever since.

The International Committee

Storm naming isn't managed by a single person or organization. The lists are now maintained and updated by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization.

The names are proposed by national meteorological services from countries in the regions where the storms could hit. For Atlantic hurricanes, that includes countries from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Names are chosen to be familiar to people in each region, and for the Atlantic, English, French, and Spanish names are used in balance.

The goal is to pick names that are:

• Short and easy to communicate

• Easy to pronounce in multiple languages

• Culturally appropriate for the region

• Not already used in other regions

And here's an important clarification: tropical cyclones are named neither after any particular person, nor with any preference in alphabetical sequence. The names aren't honoring anyone specific. They're just practical tools for communication.

When Names Get Retired

This is where things get serious. When a storm is particularly deadly or costly, the name is retired and replaced with a different name to avoid being inappropriate and to maintain sensitivity.

The decision happens at an annual meeting of the World Meteorological Organization's Hurricane Committee. If a storm caused significant death and destruction, committee members can vote to permanently retire that name from the rotation.

Since 1953, 94 Atlantic hurricane names have been retired. Some of the most notorious include:

• Katrina (2005): The devastating hurricane that hit New Orleans, replaced with Katia

• Sandy (2012): The "superstorm" that impacted the northeastern U.S.

• Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate (2017): A particularly brutal season where four names were retired

• Ian (2022): Replaced with Idris after causing massive damage in Florida

• Fiona (2022): Replaced with Farrah

Once a name is retired, it's gone forever. You'll never see another Hurricane Katrina, Andrew, or Michael. The storms were too destructive, and using those names again would be insensitive to the people who lost homes, loved ones, or entire communities.

There have been a few odd exceptions. In 1966, the name Fern was changed to Frieda without any stated reason. Sometimes the committee just decides a name needs to go, even without a disaster attached to it.

What Happens When We Run Out of Names?

Most years, 21 names is plenty. But occasionally, hurricane seasons are so active that we blow through the entire alphabet.

This happened most famously in 2020, a record-breaking season that had so many storms they exhausted all 21 names by mid-September. In the past, when the list ran out, forecasters would use the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on.

But the Greek alphabet system created problems. In 2020, storms named Zeta, Eta, and Theta were all active at the same time, and the similar-sounding names caused confusion.

In 2021, the World Meteorological Organization created a supplemental list of names to use instead of the Greek alphabet. Now, if we run out of the primary 21 names, additional storms get named from this backup list. The supplemental list includes names like Adria, Braylen, Caridad, Deshawn, and Emery.

Different Rules for Different Oceans

The Atlantic isn't the only place that names storms. Every ocean basin with tropical cyclones has its own naming system, managed by different regional bodies.

Eastern Pacific: Uses a similar six-year rotating list, but with different names appropriate for the region. These storms affect Mexico's western coast and sometimes Hawaii.

Western Pacific: Storms here are called typhoons. The names are contributed by 14 different countries in the region and are used sequentially regardless of the year. Instead of resetting each year, they just keep going through the list. So if the last storm of 2024 was named Cimaron, the first storm of 2025 picks up where the list left off with Jebi.

Indian Ocean and Southern Hemisphere: These regions have their own naming systems and lists maintained by meteorological agencies in Australia, Fiji, India, and other countries in the region.

Each region follows the same basic principle: names make tracking and communicating about storms easier. But the specific lists and rules vary based on local languages, cultures, and preferences.

The Science Behind the Name

Here's something cool: the name doesn't tell you anything about the storm's strength. Hurricane Alberto could be a category 1 while Tropical Storm Zeke could cause more damage due to flooding. The name is just an identifier, not a classification.

The actual strength classifications are:

• Tropical Depression: Organized system with sustained winds under 39 mph (no name assigned)

• Tropical Storm: Sustained winds 39-73 mph (gets a name)

• Hurricane: Sustained winds 74+ mph (categories 1-5 based on wind speed)

A storm keeps its name throughout its entire life cycle, even if it weakens from a hurricane back to a tropical storm, or if it transitions into a different type of system.

Why This System Works

Naming storms accomplishes several important goals:

1. Clear Communication: When Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Isaac are both active, everyone from meteorologists to emergency managers to the general public can track them separately without confusion.

2. Historical Record-Keeping: "Remember Hurricane Maria?" is a lot easier than "Remember that storm in September 2017 that hit Puerto Rico?"

3. Public Awareness: Names make storms feel more real and memorable, which helps people take warnings seriously.

4. Media Coverage: News organizations can report on storms more clearly, helping the public stay informed and prepared.

These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

The Human Element

There's something oddly personal about storm names. People remember where they were during Katrina, Sandy, or Harvey. The names become part of our collective memory in a way that "the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane" never could.

But the retired names also serve as a somber reminder of nature's power. Each retired name represents lives lost, communities destroyed, and billions of dollars in damage. The list of retired names is essentially a memorial to some of the worst natural disasters in recent history.

When meteorologists retire a name, they're acknowledging that some storms are too significant, too devastating, to ever be reduced to just another entry in a rotating list. Those names deserve to be remembered for what they were: historic disasters that changed lives forever.

The Bottom Line

The next time you hear about Tropical Storm Rafael or Hurricane Valerie forming in the Atlantic, you'll know there's a whole system behind that name. Six rotating lists, international committees, careful selection criteria, and decades of history all come together to give each storm its identity.

And if a storm becomes particularly destructive, its name joins the ranks of Katrina, Andrew, and Maria in the retirement hall of fame, never to be used again. It's a naming system that's both practical and respectful, efficient and meaningful.

So when hurricane season rolls around and the names start marching through the alphabet, remember: those aren't just random names. They're part of a carefully designed international system that helps keep people safe and honors the memory of disasters past.

Sources

National Hurricane Center. (2024). Tropical Cyclone Names. Retrieved from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

National Hurricane Center. (2024). Tropical Cyclone Names History. Retrieved from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames_history.shtml

World Meteorological Organization. (2024). Tropical Cyclone Naming. Retrieved from https://wmo.int/resources/wmo-fact-sheets/tropical-cyclone-naming

World Meteorological Organization. (2024). Tropical Cyclone Naming. Retrieved from https://community.wmo.int/en/tropical-cyclone-naming

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2024). Why do we name tropical storms and hurricanes? Retrieved from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/storm-names.html

Lumley, G. (2024). How Are Hurricanes Named? BKV Energy. Retrieved from https://bkvenergy.com/blog/hurricane-names/

Fox Weather. (2024). How are hurricanes and tropical storms named? Retrieved from https://www.foxweather.com/learn/how-do-hurricanes-and-tropical-storms-get-their-names