Why is it that hurricanes and cyclones have female names?

Question

Why is it that hurricanes and cyclones have female names?

Answer 1

I think they have an alphabet full of girl's names, then one full of boys alternately, so for instance Amy through to Zoe and then Adam through to Zack.

Answer 2

haha like christies answer. seriously though. they are not. What about Hurricane Ivan

Answer 3

cos women are terryfing. their shouting causes pain and destruction just like hurricanes and cyclones.

Answer 4

lol. don't think there's a polite way to answer that one.

Answer 5

They used to be exclusively females name but not any more,  they are males now too.   Ex: Hurricane David ....

Answer 6

they alternate between  male and female names. you probably just think of the most resent publicized ones that were female. here's a list of the 2008 names (male name tops the list this year):

Arthur

Bertha

Cristobal

Dolly

Edouard

Fay

Gustav

Hanna

Ike

Josephine

Kyle

Laura

Marco

Nana

Omar

Paloma

Rene

Sally

Teddy

Vicky

Wilfred

for more information on hurricane and cyclones, you can go to  the National Weather Services National Hurricane Center. here's the link to the information on names:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

Answer 7

No idea!!

Answer 8

lol, well this has actually already been answered on the radio. APPARENTLY the names of the cyclones are drawn randomly from a data base, and that it's just a conincdence that majority are named after women (i know of a cyclone larry and a cyclone floyd, i think thats the only 2 guy names i've heard for cyclones) however some people think it's cause when women are mad and on a rampage (like a cyclone) they cause way more damage than men

Answer 9

Andrew, Hugo, mitch,George, are all male names, and all devastating hurricanes

Answer 10

Nowadays just as many have male names.

Answer 11

who else but a female could cause such damage in such a short time,,

Answer 12

They do have both Female and Male names. They work there way through names i dint actually know who makes them up.

There has been a Hurricane Michael and also a Hurricane Gordon.

This link on wikepedia should help you and answer your questions and show that not all Cyclones areFemale names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_n...

I hope i have helped you to answer this question. x*x

Answer 13

They actually alternate between male and female names - it's just a freakish coincidence that the most violent ones happen to be female.....

Answer 14

hurricanes have both female and male names.

Answer 15

because just like a female they take everything including the house with them when they leave

Answer 16

This was started about 50 years or so ago in order to keep track of these systems, since sometimes there were more than one occurring at the same time.  In 1978 male names were incorporated to the lists of tropical cyclone names.  You can go here for a more detailed history of how tropical systems were named: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/B1.ht...

Answer 17

They actually alternate male and female names, using a cycle of names,"retiring" those that are famous (such as Katrina).

There are different sets of names for the different oceans of the world. See the link below for LOTS more information.

They used to be named after the name of the saint on whose day they occurred (every day has a saint), but this only really worked in Catholic countries.

See the second link for the history of hurricane and cyclone names

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml

Answer 18

Because h**l hath no fury like a woman scorned.