Ever wondered how and why hurricanes are named?

Simply remembering the names of hurricanes, like Katrina, Ike and Sandy, awakes something – something painful – in our collective memory. Ever wondered where those names that have impacted us so much came from?

The practice of giving human names to violent masses of water and wind dates back to 1950s, although people have been naming tropical cyclones for centuries, as MNN reports. Before that, tropical cyclones were assigned unofficial numbers, like Tropical Storm One and Hurricane Two. In 1950, however, Atlantic tropical cyclones began receiving official names, even though they weren’t human names: Hurricane Dog, Hurricane Easy, Hurricane Jig, Hurricane Item and Hurricane Love. The names were taken from the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet.

The tradition went on for two years, but it had one flaw: the same list was recycled every year and made things confusing. In 1953, the US National Hurricane Center began using female human names, which proved to be more successful. This made storm identification easier and helped authorities and news agencies spread warnings and raise awareness. The first few hurricanes were inspired by forecasters‘ wives, but in 1979 men’s names were added.

“[N]ames are presumed to be far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms,” the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) explains on its website. “Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on tropical cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness.”

The WMO is now responsible for the master list of names, which alternates between male and female. Six lists are rotated annually in the Atlantic; this way, the 2015 names will be used again 2021. When a cyclone is really bad, it can be named to honour its victims and survivors. Since 1954, 78 Atlantic hurricane names have been retired, including Audrey (1957), Camille (1969), Hugo (1989), Ivan (2004), Katrina (2005), Ike (2008), Irene (2011) and Sandy (2012).

The names for the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov 30 have been revealed by the National Hurricane Center:

• Arlene
• Bret
• Cindy
• Don
• Emily
• Franklin
• Gert
• Harvey
• Irma
• Jose
• Katia
• Lee
• Maria
• Nate
• Ophelia
• Philippe
• Rina
• Sean
• Tammy
• Vince
• Whitney

The season for tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean is usually the same, although it begins in May 15. Naming Pacific cyclones is quite more complex than in the Atlantic, with different lists for the Eastern, Central and Western Pacific, as well as for Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the North Indian Ocean and the Southwest Indian Ocean. The NHC list of Pacific storm names can be found here.