One of the most common questions I get when visiting schools is: “How do hurricanes get their names?”
The history behind storm naming is actually pretty fascinating.
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Stick around to the end of this newsletter for a peek into the personal stories behind some of the names that make it on the list.
Katrina, Harvey & Sandy:
These are names you’ll never forget, because of the hurricanes they belonged to. But why do we name hurricanes? And how did it all start?
The earliest known use of hurricane names dates back to the early 1800s in Puerto Rico, where storms were named after the Catholic Saint honored on the day the storm struck. For example, there were Hurricanes San Felipe and Santa Ana.
But saints weren’t the only inspiration. In the 1800s, one Atlantic storm tore the mast off a boat named Antja, and locals started referring to it as “Antja’s Hurricane.”
Fast forward to 1951, when the U.S. government began officially naming storms before they made landfall using a phonetic alphabet like Able, Baker, and Charlie.
That changed in 1953, when the National Hurricane Center switched to using female names. The idea was to streamline communication and reduce confusion by giving storms easily recognizable names in alphabetical order. The first storm of the season would begin with “A,” and so on.
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By the 1960s and ’70s, gender equality advocates began speaking out about the practice of using only women’s names for destructive storms. Their efforts paid off: in 1979, male names were added to the rotation. “Bob” was the first. In 2024, the first storm was named Alberto (a male name). This year, it’s Andrea (a female name). The hurricane name lists alternate between male and female names, and each new season flips the starting gender. So if one year begins with a male name, the next year starts with a female name.
Today, storm names are maintained by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). There are six rotating lists used for the Atlantic hurricane season, with names representing the diverse cultures in the region, including American, French, Latin, Dutch, and English names. Other regions, like the Pacific and Australia, have their own naming systems.
Names are only retired when a storm is so deadly or costly that reusing the name would be insensitive. That’s why names like Andrew, Katrina, and Helene have been permanently retired; gone from future forecasts, but never forgotten.
As you might imagine, Beryl, Helene, and Milton were retired after the last hurricane season.
Click the image below to see the video I created with the NBC News digital team.
Could we get our first storm in two weeks?
One thing I’m keeping an eye on in the Caribbean and Gulf is a signal showing below-average pressure developing in about two weeks. Lower pressure can act like fuel for any storms that try to form, helping them strengthen.
Sea surface temperatures in the region are already above 80°F, which is more than warm enough to support development.
The chance of something spinning up is still low, around 10%, but with hurricane season officially starting June 1, don’t be surprised if Andrea tries to get an early start around June 4.
If You’ve Made It This Far, Here’s the Tea:
As mentioned earlier, tropical storm names are chosen by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which has 193 members. Fun fact: Houston’s own Bill Read, former Director of the National Hurricane Center, was one of the representatives of the United States a few years back.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. In an informal setting, someone went around asking WMO members why they chose their name. Some said it was to honor a loved one, which makes sense. I think of the name Dexter this season, and could totally imagine someone naming it after a cherished pet.
But here’s the twist: what really surprised the person asking was how many men admitted to naming storms after an ex-girlfriend or ex-wife. Yikes. While these were just off-the-record conversations, it was a pretty eye-opening discovery.
Anyone want to guess who Karen is named after?
