After Debby, Here’s What the Next Hurricanes Will Be Named

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24/7 Wall St. Insights

• Hurricanes have a strict naming convention and an annual list of names that repeats every six years.
• The next hurricane will be called Ernesto.
• When a hurricane is too powerful, its name is retired.
• Also see: 2 Dividend Legends to Hold Forever

Debby made landfall on Monday morning on Florida's Big Bend as a Category 1 hurricane. At least five people were killed as a result of the storm -- two from falling trees and three in vehicle-related crashes. Debby was downgraded to a tropical storm a few hours later, as it slowly crossed Florida and Georgia, hugging the southeast coast.

Debby brought heavy rains that caused flooding in Florida and is expected to dump potentially historic levels of rain from Florida through the Carolinas and up into New England. Let’s hope Hurricane Ernesto will be less fatal and destructive. Yes, we already know what the next hurricane will be called. In fact, we know the names of all hurricanes in advance, barring certain changes.

Naming of tropical storms is determined by the World Meteorological Organization and according to a strict procedure. The list of names -- which are selected with the intention for them to be short, easy to pronounce, and unique to the region -- is repeated every six years.

Therefore, to determine what the next hurricanes will be named, 24/7 Wall St. simply reviewed the published list of names of Atlantic tropical cyclones. Listed here are the remaining names for 2024 and the ones for 2025. Supplemental data on baby names came from the U.S. Social Security Administration .

As noted, the WMO cycles through a predetermined annual list of hurricane names every six years, anticipating a maximum of 21 named storms per year. Names for the 2024 storm season that are unused will become eligible again in 2030. If there are more than 21 storms in a year and the list of names is exhausted, which is what happened in 2005 and 2020, a list of supplemental tropical cyclones names, which is also available, is used. (In those two seasons, though, the convention was to use the Greek Alphabet once the list was exhausted.)

Why do we even need hurricane names? Well, one of the reasons is that distinctive names make communication quicker, easier, and less subject to error than more cumbersome identification methods such as latitude and longitude. And while in previous centuries hurricanes were usually named after saints and later solely after women, the current practice of repeating names began after 1978. But there are exceptions to the repetitions.

If a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate, then its name is retired. For example, 2005 - a record-breaking year at the time -- had several devastating hurricanes including Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, that were all retired. In all, five names from that year were retired, the most of any year. It is too early to tell whether Beryl or Debby will be retired. (See: Hurricanes That Were So Powerful They Retired Their Names .)

Why are we covering this

As Debby slams the eastern U.S., we still have to see what the hurricane season has in store, and let us hope that not too many names would have to be used and that none would have to be retired.

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