In 1979, Hurricanes were named based on a six year rotation of male and female list. These hurricane names are used for variety of purposes including geographic location, warning services, legal issues and to avoid confusion when more than one might be developing at the same time. Hurricane names are often "retired" after they have caused significant damage or death.
Hurricane Names for 2009 through 2013
History of Hurricane Naming
There have been many conventions used over the past several centuries for naming and tracking hurricanes. For example, hurricanes were once named after their latitude and longitude position, but that method would later change to a less confusing and one that was easier to communicate. For years, Hurricanes were named using some distinction that described the storm like the year and/or the place of landfall (ex: "The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926").
The use of female names started in 1941, but gave way to the U.S. convention of using phonetic alphabet names such as Able, Baker and Charlie. Female names made a comeback in 1953 when the national weather service returned to the practice.
Finally, in 1978 and 1979, The World Meteorological Organization agreed upon the rotating list of both male and female names for counterclockwise rotating storms with winds of 39 mph and higher.
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