The word "Hurricane" is derived from the Carib term for "God of Evil". In the West Indies hurricanes were originally named after the saint upon whose holyday the storm occurred. Until 1953, the custom was to refer to storms by their year or location i.e.: "The Hurricane of 1938" or "The Galveston Hurricane of 1900". In 1953, however, the National Hurricane Center began using female names, in alphabetical order. In 1979, alternating male and female names began. As listed below, six rotating lists of names are utilized for Atlantic Tropical Cyclones. An international committee of the World Meteorological Organization decides at the conclusion of each hurricane season if the name of an extremely deadly or costly storm should be retired and replaced on the list. These are the names utilized in the six-year cycle of names. Except for any retired names, in 2016 the 2010 list will be repeated. As we saw in 2005, once the 21 Tropical Cyclone names are used up, additional storms take the names from the letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc.
Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Names 2010-2015
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Alex Bonnie Colin Danielle Earl Fiona Gaston Hermine Igor Julia Karl Lisa Matthew Nicole Otto Paula Richard Shary Tomas Virginie Walter | Arlene Bret Cindy Don Emily Franklin Gert Harvey Irene Jose Katia Lee Maria Nate Ophelia Philippe Rina Sean Tammy Vince Whitney | Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Florence Gordon Helene Isaac Joyce Kirk Leslie Michael Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sandy Tony Valerie William | Andrea Barry Chantal Dorian Erin Fernand Gabrielle Humberto Ingrid Jerry Karen Lorenzo Melissa Nestor Olga Pablo Rebekah Sebastien Tanya Van Wendy | Arthur Bertha Cristobal Dolly Edouard Fay Gonzalo Hanna Isaias Josephine Kyle Laura Marco Nana Omar Paulette Rene Sally Teddy Vicky Wilfred | Ana Bill Claudette Danny Erika Fred Grace Henri Ida Joaquin Kate Larry Mindy Nicholas Odette Peter Rose Sam Teresa Victor Wanda |