World Meteorological Organization Plays the Hurricane Name Game

Just how do they decide on a hurricane name? The ferrocious storms were originally named after a saint whose holy-day occurred. Leading up to the early 1950s, storms were named by their year or locations, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. 

The National Hurricane Center changed that in 1953 when it began using female names. The names were chosen in alphabetical order. To be fair, the National Hurricane Center began alternating male and female names. 

An international committee of World Meteorological Organization decides at the end of each hurricane season if the name of an deadly or costly storm should be retired from a list.

Below are the names used in the six-year cycle of names. In 2016, the 2010 list will be repeated. 

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