The surprising reason hurricanes get human names — and why some are banned forever
As hurricane season gathers pace, tropical cyclones across the Pacific are quickly working their way through names beginning with Amanda and Boris.
Humans have always named the things around them, but formally naming hurricanes, military operations and global health emergencies is a relatively modern practice.
From Hurricane Katrina to COVID-19 and military campaigns such as Operation Epic Fury, the names do more than distinguish one event from another. They can shape how people understand and remember them.
“Look around in your home. Who or what has a name? Your family members, your pets. You may even have named certain objects of significance,” said Shannon Murphy, chief executive of naming consultancy Nameistry. “If it’s got a name, it has meaning in some way.”
For storms, naming can be a matter of public safety.
The World Meteorological Organization says names are one of the fastest ways to communicate warnings, improve preparedness and prevent confusion when several storms are active at once. They also make storms easier for scientists and historians to track.
Regional meteorological bodies maintain predetermined alphabetical lists. Some recycle lists every several years, while others introduce new ones annually. Atlantic lists skip Q, U, X, Y and Z because of the difficulty of finding enough suitable names.
The U.S. once used only female names for tropical storms, but since 1979 lists have alternated between male and female names.
Particularly deadly or destructive hurricanes can have their names permanently retired. Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 and killed nearly 1,400 people, was replaced by Katia. Sandy, which killed 182 people after striking the Caribbean and U.S. East Coast in 2012, was replaced by Sara.
“There have been names that are hard to pronounce,” said Robbie Berg, a warning coordination meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center. “We want them to roll off the tongue pretty easily.”
Military operations have a very different naming history.
Originally, code names were primarily practical tools designed to conceal plans and distinguish operations. During World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill recognized that they could also carry enormous political and emotional weight.
“In the Second World War, names such as Overlord, Torch or Husky were planning code-names,” said Ruben Stewart, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Churchill warned in a 1943 memo that operation names should not sound boastful or frivolous. He argued that commanders should avoid names that could leave a grieving mother or widow saying her loved one had died in an operation called “Bunnyhug” or “Ballyhoo.”
