Names of Hurricanes

Posted on January 12th, 2006.

Satellite photo of Hurricane Emily near peak intensity

As my teacher was explaining about an newspaper excerpt in my German language class, she told us that hurricanes are named according to alphabet order. I’ve do some research on the internet and have found some useful facts.

Hurricanes names are chosen from a list selected by the World Meteorological Organization. The Atlantic is assigned six lists of names, with one list used each year. Every sixth year, the first list begins again. Each name on the list starts with a different letter, for example, the name of the very first hurricane of the season starts with the letter A, the next starts with the letter B, and so on. The letters “Q”, “U”, “X”, “Y” and “Z”, however, are not used.

Often when an unusually destructive hurricane hits, that hurricane’s name is retired and never used again. Since 1954, forty names have been retired. In 1996 Hurricane Luis was retired. Is your name among the currently used or retired hurricane names? (I’m not listed. I wonder if the Malays were to give name to the hurricanes… )

Hurricane Names Selected for the Atlantic Basin

1997/ 2003	1998/ 2004	1999/ 2005	2000/ 2006	2001/ 2007	2002/ 2008
Ana	Alex	Arlene	Alberto	Allison*	Arthur
Bill	Bonnie	Bret	Beryl	Barry	Bertha
Claudette	Charley	Cindy	Chris	Chantal	Cesar
Danny	Danielle	Dennis	Debby	Dean	Dolly
Erika	Earl	Emily	Ernesto	Erin	Edouard
Fabian	Frances	Floyd*	Florence	Felix	Fran
Grace	Georges*	Gert	Gordon	Gabrielle	Gustav
Henri	Hermine	Harvey	Helene	Humberto	Horrtense
Isabel	Ivan	Irene	Isaac	Iris*	Isidore
Juan	Jeanne	Jose	Joyce	Jerry	Josephine
Kate	Karl	Katrina	Keith*	Karen	Kyle
Larry	Lisa	Lenny*	Leslie	Lorenzo	Lili
Mindy	Mitch*	Maria	Michael	Michelle*	Marco
Nicholas	Nicole	Nate	Nadine	Noel	Nana
Odette	Otto	Ophelia	Oscar	Olga	Omar
Peter	Paula	Phillippe	Patty	Pablo	Paloma
Rose	Richard	Rita	Rafael	Rebekah	Rene
Sam	Shary	Stan	Sandy	Sebastien	Sally
Teresa	Tomas	Tammy	Tony	Tanya	Teddy
Victor	Virginie	Vince	Valerie	Van	Vicky
Wanda	Walter	Wilma	William	Wendy	Wilfred
* Hurricanes retired since 1985.