Who decides what names will be used for hurricanes?

Question

curious to know, thanks

Answer 1

A guy named George in a motel in suburban Miami.

Aw, seriously, the World Meteorological Organization (who might have a fellow named George working there).

The referenced link to Wikipedia answered a burning question I had, what happens if a Greek-named storm (remember the Katrina year?) is severe enough to qualify to have its name retired?  Do they forevermore skip that Greek letter, like if Hurricane Beta was a monster, what happens the next year after Alpha?

Answer, it is NOT retired, but it is 'footnoted'.

Answer 2

The National Hurricane Center, which is part of the National Weather Service, has a pre-determined list that is used for a hurricane season. The list contains female and male names which goes from A to Z. Some letters are excluded because there are no associated names. If the English alphabet is depleted, then the Greek alphabet is used. It starts from Alpha and goes all the way to Omega. Because there is a finite number of names, most are used more than once. There are names that are retired because of a record they broke, a high amount of destruction they did, or something like that.