How are hurricanes named? How the process works, and what names are on tap for 2023

Mary Ramsey
·2 min read
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It’s hurricane season once again in the Carolinas, and that means keeping an eye on the tropics for storms that could develop into threats.

That includes weather systems that rise to the level — becoming a tropical storm or hurricane — of getting a name.

While the alphabetical lists of hurricane names we see each year may seem random (and sometimes odd), they’re actually part of a formal, international system designed to help meteorologists clearly communicate about storms.

And if you hear a name for a storm you think you’ve heard before, it’s not a coincidence.

Here’s what to know about how hurricanes are named and what names are on the 2023 list:

How are hurricanes named?

Tropical storm and hurricane names come from lists put together by the World Meteorological Organization, per the National Hurricane Center.

For Atlantic storms, the NHC explains, the WMO has six lists of names they rotate through. So, for example, the 2023 list will be used again in 2029.

“The only time that there is a change is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for obvious reasons of sensitivity,” the NHC adds. “If that occurs, then at an annual meeting by the committee (called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to replace it.”

Examples of storm names that have been retired include Hugo, Katrina and Matthew.

The lists are intended to utilized “short, distinctive names” that are quick to say and “easily remembered.”

The permanent six-year storm name list has been used since 1979, per the NHC.

In the 1950s, the U.S. briefly tried a naming system based on the phonetic alphabet.

What are the 2023 hurricane names?

The 2023 hurricane name list from the World Meteorological Organization is:

  • Arlene

  • Bret

  • Cindy

  • Don

  • Emily

  • Franklin

  • Gert

  • Harold

  • Idalia

  • Jose

  • Katia

  • Lee

  • Margot

  • Nigel

  • Ophelia

  • Philippe

  • Rina

  • Sean

  • Tammy

  • Vince

  • Whitney

What happens when they run out of hurricane names?

The World Meteorological Organization used to turn to the Greek alphabet on the rare occasions that there were more named storms in a year than names on their list.

But since 2021, they’ve instead used “two lists of supplemental tropical cyclone names, one of the Atlantic, one for the Pacific.”