Do tropical storms change names when they become hurricanes?

Question

I have been wondering do they change names as they become a hurricane?

Answer 1

Nope. They are named when they become tropical storms and keep that name up through hurricane and down through tropical depression. Below tropical depression they lose their names because they aren't a cohesive "thing" anymore. You may hear about the "aftermath of Gustav" but that isn't a singular storm.

The names aren't trying to be cute, they help everyone who needs to be aware of them exactly which storm they're talking about.

Answer 2

Tropical storms and hurricanes are given names to avoid confusion when more than one storm is being followed at the same time. A storm is named when it reaches tropical storm strength with winds of 39 mph. A storm becomes a hurricane when its wind speed reaches 75 mph.

American weather agencies began assigning girls' names to major tropical storms in 1953. Apparently they got the idea from military forecasters.

Later the assigning of names for Atlantic hurricanes was turned over to the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency, theoretically making it an international responsibility. (Naming of hurricanes in the eastern Pacific is handled through a bilateral agreement with Mexico.)  

Answer 3

No, the names are decided ahead of time and remain the same.