My column on hurricane names

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

The main reason I look in on this board is because I am an expert on names who is interested in how hurricanes get names and the consequences of naming them.

I write a column on names that appears every other week in the Omaha World Herald. For those who might be interested, here is the link:

https://omaha.com/lifestyles/cleveland- ... d9fda.html

Since I only get about 540 words for the column, there's a lot more I wanted to say here I couldn't fit in. I would have liked to point out that one really can't get away from connotations no matter what words would be used to name hurricanes -- if you just numbered them, people would be more afraid of Thirteen than Seven. And of course no one is claiming that every individual would be equally affected by the connotations -- I would expect people who have NOT lived through a major hurricane before (the young and those who have recently moved to coastal areas) to be way more likely to have their evacuation decisions affected by this than those who have experienced a real severe storm.

I would have liked to comment on how odd I think some of the replacement choices have been. Katrina and Rita were replaced by Katia and Rina, just about as close as you can get to the originals. Two years ago Florence and Michael were replaced by Francine and Milton -- Francine & Milton sound like an elderly Miami Beach couple to me.

Finally, I wish I'd had space to mention the fact that although hurricanes are not supposed to be named after particular people, meteorologists, being human, have not always abided by that -- something I learned thanks to posters on this site. It is now admitted that "Camille" got onto the 1969 list because it was the name of the then-teenaged daughter of meteorologist John Hope. Though it hasn't been officially admitted, posters here have told me that Gilbert, Roxanne, and Jerry also all got onto the original six lists in 1979 because of particular hurricane experts or their relatives.

[HurricaneRyan]

Francine isn't exactly an old sounding replacement to me. A lot of millennials or even Gen Z kids will probably think of Francine Frensky from Arthur or the wife of the main character on American Dad. Those are two pretty popular examples from recent years, and on occasion I've seen memes of more recent storms - Sandy for example being meme'd with the Spongebob character and the Grease character. And Arthur in 2014 was meme'd with the actual character.

I still find it weird that Katia and Rina were the replacements for Katrina and Rita. As a kid, I always thought Kelly would have been a better choice - easy to pronounce and common name.

[storm_in_a_teacup]

I mean I kinda got off guard by how sweet Laura’s name sounded. Early on when people were talking about Marco and Laura interacting, I drew a sketch of them dancing together and made Laura look really cute. Of course that hasn’t exactly aged well.

I mean, some hurricane names just sound too sweet. Harvey and Ike? Those names sound mean. Katrina and Rita? Only old people have those names. But Laura? I had a ton of girls in my elementary school named Laura and I just sort of picture little girls when I hear that name.

Of course some of this is just people’s personal history and you can’t account for that. In kindergarten a girl named Allison bullied me a lot, so when the tropical storm flooded my neighborhood I said she had come to get revenge

[AnnularCane]

I actually think Katrina sounds kind of sweet. I know it's supposed to send chills up my spine or something, but well...it just doesn't. It actually sounds young to me too. I never knew any old people named Katrina, although I guess they exist. Laura actually sounds kind of young to me too, even though I do know of old people with the name, along with younger ones.

[FireRat]

... and to think Katrina could've actually been Jose had that name not been robbed a day early by a tiny short lived Bay of Campeche storm.

[FireRat]

just a funny thought, imagine if one day they also began naming hurricanes after pets. Like Hurricane Fido, Rocky or Toby haha.

[zhukm29]

... and to think Katrina could've actually been Jose had that name not been robbed a day early by a tiny short lived Bay of Campeche storm.

Jose could have been Irma too if TD10 had organized a bit more to be named. The name "Jose" was always super close to being a monster, and was 1 name away from retirement the last 3 seasons it was used.

Also, the name "Karen" has become a meme today, but I've always wondered what would've happened if the original name list creators swapped Katrina and Karen for the female "K" name on lists 3 and 5. Then Karen would have been Katrina in 2005, and I think some other name would be the equivalent of "Karen" for today's memes.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Also, the remaining names on the list aren't as common, with the exception of maybe Omar, Teddy (which I guess can be argued for Theodore, which is 44th for male names in 2018), and Vicky (which can be argued for Victoria, which is 21st for female names in 2018). The female form of Rene (Renee) is common as well, but I've never met anyone with the male version. I always felt that list 1 (which will be used next year) had a lot of the more common names, but list 1 has a record of not doing much.

[FireRat]

... and to think Katrina could've actually been Jose had that name not been robbed a day early by a tiny short lived Bay of Campeche storm.

Jose could have been Irma too if TD10 had organized a bit more to be named. The name "Jose" was always super close to being a monster, and was 1 name away from retirement the last 3 seasons it was used.

Also, the name "Karen" has become a meme today, but I've always wondered what would've happened if the original name list creators swapped Katrina and Karen for the female "K" name on lists 3 and 5. Then Karen would have been Katrina in 2005, and I think some other name would be the equivalent of "Karen" for today's memes.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Also, the remaining names on the list aren't as common, with the exception of maybe Omar, Teddy (which I guess can be argued for Theodore, which is 44th for male names in 2018), and Vicky (which can be argued for Victoria, which is 21st for female names in 2018). The female form of Rene (Renee) is common as well, but I've never met anyone with the male version. I always felt that list 1 (which will be used next year) had a lot of the more common names, but list 1 has a record of not doing much.

Nice post! yeah Jose was so close to being a devastator, and he actually may have reached Cat 5 in 2017 but Irma overshadowed him lol. Katrina is a name synonymous with hurricane, it seems! I wonder if other names would get that effect like Katrina? Andrew might have been one for a little while, at least in Florida in the 90s.

Rene is an interesting name, the male version... in Spanish pop culture, Kermit the Frog is named RENE
(la Rana Rene)

[CrazyC83]

... and to think Katrina could've actually been Jose had that name not been robbed a day early by a tiny short lived Bay of Campeche storm.

Jose could have been Irma too if TD10 had organized a bit more to be named. The name "Jose" was always super close to being a monster, and was 1 name away from retirement the last 3 seasons it was used.

Also, the name "Karen" has become a meme today, but I've always wondered what would've happened if the original name list creators swapped Katrina and Karen for the female "K" name on lists 3 and 5. Then Karen would have been Katrina in 2005, and I think some other name would be the equivalent of "Karen" for today's memes.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Also, the remaining names on the list aren't as common, with the exception of maybe Omar, Teddy (which I guess can be argued for Theodore, which is 44th for male names in 2018), and Vicky (which can be argued for Victoria, which is 21st for female names in 2018). The female form of Rene (Renee) is common as well, but I've never met anyone with the male version. I always felt that list 1 (which will be used next year) had a lot of the more common names, but list 1 has a record of not doing much.

Under current naming rules, four names that have been retired since 1979 would still be in use today: Andrew, Gilbert, Joan and Wilma. (The other unnamed storms would not have bottled the list up as they took place after the last retired storm or in a year with no retirements). Of the four names they would have displaced, one (Keith) was retired the next time it was used, two (Bonnie and Helene) remain on the list and the fourth (Alpha) is a unique case.

As far as Karen, the only year it was one name off a retirement was 1995 (Luis). They actually formed only a few hours apart, but Karen developed sooner (and died much sooner). Karen has always underperformed - it has never been stronger than a category 1 hurricane and never made landfall as more than a weak storm. Maybe in 2025 the meme will be destroyed.

[aspen]

... and to think Katrina could've actually been Jose had that name not been robbed a day early by a tiny short lived Bay of Campeche storm.

Jose could have been Irma too if TD10 had organized a bit more to be named. The name "Jose" was always super close to being a monster, and was 1 name away from retirement the last 3 seasons it was used.

Also, the name "Karen" has become a meme today, but I've always wondered what would've happened if the original name list creators swapped Katrina and Karen for the female "K" name on lists 3 and 5. Then Karen would have been Katrina in 2005, and I think some other name would be the equivalent of "Karen" for today's memes.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Also, the remaining names on the list aren't as common, with the exception of maybe Omar, Teddy (which I guess can be argued for Theodore, which is 44th for male names in 2018), and Vicky (which can be argued for Victoria, which is 21st for female names in 2018). The female form of Rene (Renee) is common as well, but I've never met anyone with the male version. I always felt that list 1 (which will be used next year) had a lot of the more common names, but list 1 has a record of not doing much.

Under current naming rules, four names that have been retired since 1979 would still be in use today: Andrew, Gilbert, Joan and Wilma. (The other unnamed storms would not have bottled the list up as they took place after the last retired storm or in a year with no retirements). Of the four names they would have displaced, one (Keith) was retired the next time it was used, two (Bonnie and Helene) remain on the list and the fourth (Alpha) is a unique case.

As far as Karen, the only year it was one name off a retirement was 1995 (Luis). They actually formed only a few hours apart, but Karen developed sooner (and died much sooner). Karen has always underperformed - it has never been stronger than a category 1 hurricane and never made landfall as more than a weak storm. Maybe in 2025 the meme will be destroyed.

Karen was also really close to becoming what was eventually named Lorenzo last year. However, that wave took a little longer to develop, and the wave near the Lesser Antilles stole the name Karen instead. We were so close to record breaking, gigantic Category 5 Hurricane Karen last year, and conveniently around the time when the Karen memes really hit the mainstream (they weren’t a thing back in 2013 or 2007 or 1995).

[ClarCari]

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Well the coverage and National shock that happened with Katrina and the very public flooding of almost all of New Orleans gave Katrina a 9/11-like notoriety as one of America’s biggest tragedies (I was only 4 during 9/11 so I can’t speak on how that event seemed to me, but Katrina was THE tragedy that I remember what grade I was in, and where I was when I saw that damage).
And your right to say that maybe a more common name might not have caused the same “chills” a less common name such as Katrina caused. But Katrina....that storm did something that no other named storm did before or done since. Any name it could’ve gotten would be almost doomed to history it seems...

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

..

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

It just isn't correct that the name Katrina was "seeing a resurgence" before 2005. Katrina peaked in use in the USA at #87 in 1982. In 2004 it had fallen all the way back to #281 on Social Security's national popularity chart, its lowest rank since 1961. As I wrote in my column, Katrina rose 13% in 2005 to rank #246 and after that declined very quickly, leaving the list of the top thousand girl's names in 2013.

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi

[CrazyC83]

Jose could have been Irma too if TD10 had organized a bit more to be named. The name "Jose" was always super close to being a monster, and was 1 name away from retirement the last 3 seasons it was used.

Also, the name "Karen" has become a meme today, but I've always wondered what would've happened if the original name list creators swapped Katrina and Karen for the female "K" name on lists 3 and 5. Then Karen would have been Katrina in 2005, and I think some other name would be the equivalent of "Karen" for today's memes.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Katrina was seeing a resurgence before 2005 and was gradually climbing the popularity chart until the hurricane hit. As a result, the name hasn't been used much ever since. Interestingly enough, names like Andrew and Michael are still quite popular.

I'm curious to see how names are affected by powerful storms, and how certain names survive while others don't. Personally, I think popular names don't get hit as hard when a powerful storm hits, since enough people have the name that the hurricane isn't the first thing that comes to mind (e.g., there are enough Andrew's, Michael's, Maria's, Matthew's, etc. that the storm won't likely dent its usage). However, less popular names are more likely to be wiped out. I'm curious to see how names like Harvey and Irma fare over the next few years.

Also, the remaining names on the list aren't as common, with the exception of maybe Omar, Teddy (which I guess can be argued for Theodore, which is 44th for male names in 2018), and Vicky (which can be argued for Victoria, which is 21st for female names in 2018). The female form of Rene (Renee) is common as well, but I've never met anyone with the male version. I always felt that list 1 (which will be used next year) had a lot of the more common names, but list 1 has a record of not doing much.

Under current naming rules, four names that have been retired since 1979 would still be in use today: Andrew, Gilbert, Joan and Wilma. (The other unnamed storms would not have bottled the list up as they took place after the last retired storm or in a year with no retirements). Of the four names they would have displaced, one (Keith) was retired the next time it was used, two (Bonnie and Helene) remain on the list and the fourth (Alpha) is a unique case.

As far as Karen, the only year it was one name off a retirement was 1995 (Luis). They actually formed only a few hours apart, but Karen developed sooner (and died much sooner). Karen has always underperformed - it has never been stronger than a category 1 hurricane and never made landfall as more than a weak storm. Maybe in 2025 the meme will be destroyed.

Karen was also really close to becoming what was eventually named Lorenzo last year. However, that wave took a little longer to develop, and the wave near the Lesser Antilles stole the name Karen instead. We were so close to record breaking, gigantic Category 5 Hurricane Karen last year, and conveniently around the time when the Karen memes really hit the mainstream (they weren’t a thing back in 2013 or 2007 or 1995).

Imagine if Dorian was named Karen instead after a hyperactive start to 2019, and then hit South Florida at full tilt? That might have ended the memes.

[chaser1]

There's something I'm curious about regarding names similar to retired names. As more and more names eventually get retired over time what are the odds that shortened, abbreviated, or nicknamed names related to retired hurricane names might be used. Good example being my own name, Andrew. Half the people I know call me Andy. Andrew being retired, would that take Andy off the table for future use? Here's a few other examples of retired names along with similar name variations of them that I can think of.....
Charlie - Charles or Chuck
Katrina - Kat
Camille - Cami
Maria - Marie
Gilbert - Gilberto
Alicia - Alice

[chaser1]

Here's one other tropical cyclone "name" related trivia question.

Which Atlantic Tropical Storm names were retired, without ever reaching Hurricane intensity??

I know of only one but there may be more.

[beyokan]

Here's one other tropical cyclone "name" related trivia question.

Which Atlantic Tropical Storm names were retired, without ever reaching Hurricane intensity??

I know of only one but there may be more.

Allison, Erika (lol) and potentially Imelda.

[CrazyC83]

It is unlikely to ever happen since they don't share active patterns, but imagine if both the Atlantic and EPAC exhausted their lists in the same year? That would be so confusing with both basins using Greek letters concurrently.

[gfsperpendicular]

It is unlikely to ever happen since they don't share active patterns, but imagine if both the Atlantic and EPAC exhausted their lists in the same year? That would be so confusing with both basins using Greek letters concurrently.

Maybe they would use "TS Alpha-E" like they do with depressions?

[BigB0882]

I think it is important to remember that the majority of Americans live somewhere where they are likely to only be affected minimally by any landfalling storm/hurricane or they live somewhere that will never be affected at all. Those people probably have little to no memory of Rita, Ike, Michael, etc. I think only the biggest and most covered storms get the nations attention long enough to be remembered by almost everyone, storms like Katrina, Andrew and Sandy, for example. Of course, this doesn't apply to any weather geeks like ourselves who may live in unaffected places.

[CrazyC83]

I think there are 4 options on where we can go from here:

1) Status quo

PROS: Easy to figure out; alphabet position can tell (normally) how busy a season has been; Greek letters stick out for being extreme and are well understood; can be adaptable to add X, Y and Z names.

CONS: Retirement procedure for Greek letters is difficult (they can't be replaced, reusing creates fear/confusion and skipping is also confusing); what happens if both Atlantic and EPAC reach Greek territory in the same year?

2) Auxiliary lists

PROS: Alphabet can reset and make clear where we are from the 22nd storm; easy to retire/replace.

CONS: Either need 2 lists or many lists depending on if they should change annually; if fixed, names could appear in consecutive years if there are back to back such years.

3) Rolling lists

PROS: No need to worry about special lists; letters deep in the alphabet get used; retirement procedure is unchanged.

CONS: It could get confusing, at least initially, when W turns back to A.

4) Semi-rolling lists (i.e. jumping to next year's list if necessary, then shifting lists up a year)

PROS: Greek Alphabet no longer used; in most seasons, the list order remains unchanged; retirement procedure is unchanged.

CONS: Name lists have to be moved up years (i.e. if we use 2021 names now, the 2022 list must move up).