Although rarer, some East Pacific names have been retired from the list. The climatology of this basin has most hurricanes moving away from the shore, so chances are rare that these storms would adversely affect people necessitating the name be retired.

Retired Hurricane Names

East Pacific

A few Central Pacific names have been retired from their list. All of them were removed for inflicting damage in the Hawai'ian Islands.

Retired Hurricane Names

Central Pacific

Last updated December 8, 2006

What is the origin of the word 'hurricane'?

Contributed by Chris Landsea

"HURRICANE derived from 'Hurican', the Carib god of evil... alternative spellings: foracan, foracane, furacana, furacane, furicane,furicano, haracana, harauncana, haraucane, haroucana, harrycain, hauracane, haurachana, herican, hericane, hericano, herocane, herricao, herycano, heuricane, hiracano, hirecano, hurac[s]n, huracano, hurican, hurleblast, hurlecan, hurlecano, hurlicano, hurrican, hurricano, hyrracano, urycan, hyrricano, jimmycane, oraucan, uracan, uracano."

From the AMS Glossary of Meteorology

It should be noted that the Carib god 'Hurican' was derived from the Mayan god 'Hurakan', one of their creator gods, who blew his breath across the Chaotic water and brought forth dry land and later destroyed the men of wood with a great storm and flood.



What happens to the name of the tropical cyclone if it moves from the Atlantic regions to the Northeast Pacific, or vice versa?

The rule used to be that if the tropical storm or hurricane moved into a different basin (see F1 for more about the basins), then it was renamed to whatever name was next on the list for the area. The last time that this occurred was in July 1996 when Atlantic basin Hurricane Cesar moved across Central America and was renamed Northeast Pacific basin Hurricane Douglas. The last time that a Northeast Pacific system moved into the Atlantic basin was in June 1989 when Cosme became Allison.

However, these rules have now changed at the National Hurricane Center and if the system remains a tropical cyclone as it moves across Central America, then it will keep the original name. Only if the tropical cyclone dissipates with just a tropical disturbance remaining, will the National Hurricane Center give the system a new name assuming it becomes a tropical cyclone once again.



What happens if they run out of names on the list ?

Contributed by Neal Dorst

Well, we all found out the answer in 2005. In the Atlantic and East Pacific, when they have run through the name list they then use the Greek alphabet : Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon,... etc. . At present there are no plans to retire letters of the Greek alphabet from the list, but if a very bad hurricane occurs with a Greek letter name, this may have to be revised.

In the Central and West Pacific they have a perpetual lists of names, so when one list is through they simply start on the next.

Since the name list has been started in the Atlantic in 1950 the furthest they have gone down the list has been Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005.

Revised May 8, 2007


How can I nominate a new name for the list?

Contributed by Frank Lepore (NHC)

Since 1978, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization, a group representing some 120 different countries, has used pre-determined lists of names for tropical storms for each ocean basin of the world. The Atlantic basin, which falls under Regional Association IV, has a six year supply of names with 21 names for each year. Why 21 names? Well, the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used because names beginning with those letters are in short supply (you would need at least 3 male and 3 female names for each letter, plus a back-up supply for those retired). Think about it; how many men and women do you know whose names begin with these letters?

When a damage or casualty producing storm like Mitch, Hugo or Andrew strikes, the country most affected by the storm may recommend to the WMO Regional Association that the name be "retired." Retiring a name is an act of respect for its victims, and reduces confusion in the insurance, legal or scientific literature. A retired name is replaced with a like-gender name beginning with the same letter. For example, Honduras recommended (1998) the name Mitch be retired and proposed the replacement name, Matthew, for consideration (and vote) by the 25-member countries of RA-IV. Fifty names have been retired since 1972 in the Atlantic basin .

The names used on the list must meet some fundamental criteria. They should be short, and readily understood when broadcast. Further the names must be culturally sensitive and not convey some unintended and potentially inflammatory meaning. The potential for misunderstanding increases when you figure that in the Atlantic basin there are twenty-four countries, reflecting an international mix of English, Spanish and French cultures.

Typically, over the historical record, about one storm each year causes so much death and destruction that its name is considered for retirement. This means that in a "normal" year, the odds are about 1 in 8 of requiring a replacement name, given that over the last 57 years (of reliable record) we've averaged slightly over 8 tropical storms and hurricanes per season (actually 8.6). So, it's more likely that letters/ names toward the front of the alphabet (letters A through H) might be retired.

The Director of the National Hurricane Center has a rather large file folder of nominated names that have already been submitted. The next time the need arises and it's a storm affecting mainly the United States, our Director will be casting about for a replacement tropical cyclone name. He will take out THE file to make a selection. But as we say, it's pure chance from there.