How Do Hurricanes Get Their Names? — In Plain Words

General information only.

What this page covers

This page covers how tropical cyclones get their names. It is based on one page from the National Hurricane Center: “Tropical Cyclone Names.”

This page prints the naming system that page states, in plain words. It does not print the name lists themselves.

Cross-reference, in plain text only: This program also has a built page titled “What Is a Bomb Cyclone? — In Plain Words.” That page covers a different topic. It is not the topic of this page.

Who names them

Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center.

The lists are now maintained and updated through a strict procedure by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The rotation: six lists, used again every six years

For the Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific, there are six lists. They are used in rotation and re-cycled every six years.

That means the 2026 list will be used again in 2032.

The National Hurricane Center publishes the six lists, currently covering 2026–2031, on the page named in the Sources box below. This guide does not print those lists.

The only change is retirement

The only time there is a change in a list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name for a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity.

If that occurs, then at an annual meeting of the WMO committee, the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.

Several names have been retired since the lists were created.

The National Hurricane Center page links to a history page with the retired names. This guide does not list them.

Central North Pacific: four lists, used one after the other

In the central North Pacific, the names come from four lists.

The names are used one after the other. When the bottom of one list is reached, the next name is the top of the next list.

This guide does not print those lists either.

Storms that form in the off-season

If a storm forms during the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date.

For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28, it would take the name from the previous season's list of names.

If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season's list of names.

Extra-long seasons: alternate lists

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, any additional storms will take names from an alternate list of names approved by the WMO.

In the eastern North Pacific, the same rule applies if more than twenty-four named tropical cyclones occur in a season: any additional storms take names from an alternate list of names approved by the WMO.

Other basins

Lists of names for other tropical cyclone basins outside of National Hurricane Center responsibility can be found on the World Meteorological Organization tropical cyclone naming page.

General information only.