How Are Hurricanes Named?

How do they pick names for hurricanes?

Hurricanes and tropical storms are assigned names from six lists created by the National Hurricane Center and maintained by the World Meteorological Organization. Each list contains 21 names in alphabetical order, alternating between male and female names. The lists rotate every six years, meaning that the list of names used in 2024 will be used again in 2030.

The names are purposefully short and distinctive to reduce confusion in written and spoken communication surrounding a particular storm, whether that’s in the news or between coastal bases and ships at sea.

There are no names on the list starting with the letters Q, U, X, Y, or Z because those names are less common and often harder to understand across spoken languages.

This naming system is especially useful because at the same time, multiple hurricanes or tropical cyclones can be forming in the Atlantic, approaching landfall, or actively hitting land.

Tropical cyclones like hurricanes and typhoons occur in several parts of the globe: the Atlantic, the eastern Pacific, and the central Pacific. Each region has it’s own set of name lists.

Retired hurricane names

If a storm is particularly destructive, deadly, or costly, the World Meteorological Organization will remove that name from the list in sensitivity to those impacted by the event and another name is added to replace it. Hurricanes that have their names removed from the list are often meet the requirements to be characterized as category 3, 4, or 5.

Since 1954, 96 names have been retired from the list. You may recognize some of the more recently retired names:

• Hurricane Harvey, retired 2017
• Hurricane Sandy, retired 2012
• Hurricane Katrina, retired 2005

View the full list of retired Atlantic hurricane names on the National Hurricane Center website.

What happens when there are more than 21 storms in one season?

You may notice each list only has 21 names. In the case there are more than 21 named tropical storms or hurricanes in one season, additional names are pulled from a supplemental list of names managed by the World Meteorological Organization.

Meteorologists and hurricane experts are predicting the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be extremely active. They expect 23 storms to reach the stage of tropical storm or hurricane, which means it’s likely that the supplemental list of names will come in handy this year.

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