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.

1. Ernesto (2024)

• Babies named Ernesto since 2000: 12,997 newborns

2. Francine (2024)

• Babies named Francine since 2000: 1,372 newborns

3. Gordon (2024)

• Babies named Gordon since 2000: 5,508 newborns

4. Helene (2024)

• Babies named Helene since 2000: 938 newborns

5. Isaac (2024)

• Babies named Isaac since 2000: 212,972 newborns

6. Joyce (2024)

• Babies named Joyce since 2000: 7,646 newborns

7. Kirk (2024)

• Babies named Kirk since 2000: 2,583 newborns

8. Leslie (2024)

• Babies named Leslie since 2000: 44,234 newborns

9. Milton (2024)

• Babies named Milton since 2000: 4,577 newborns

10. Nadine (2024)

• Babies named Nadine since 2000: 4,050 newborns

11. Oscar (2024)

• Babies named Oscar since 2000: 62,942 newborns

12. Patty (2024)

• Babies named Patty since 2000: 225 newborns

13. Rafael (2024)

• Babies named Rafael since 2000: 33,812 newborns

14. Sara (2024)

• Babies named Sara since 2000: 71,217 newborns

15. Tony (2024)

• Babies named Tony since 2000: 17,437 newborns

16. Valerie (2024)

• Babies named Valerie since 2000: 48,656 newborns

17. William (2024)

• Babies named William since 2000: 401,618 newborns

18. Andrea (2025)

• Babies named Andrea since 2000: 84,039 newborns

19. Barry (2025)

• Babies named Barry since 2000: 3,639 newborns

20. Chantal (2025)

• Babies named Chantal since 2000: 1,788 newborns

21. Dexter (2025)

• Babies named Dexter since 2000: 11,541 newborns

22. Erin (2025)

• Babies named Erin since 2000: 47,083 newborns

23. Fernand (2025)

• Babies named Fernand since 2000: <50 newborns

24. Gabrielle (2025)

• Babies named Gabrielle since 2000: 68,762 newborns

25. Humberto (2025)

• Babies named Humberto since 2000: 5,079 newborns

26. Imelda (2025)

• Babies named Imelda since 2000: 939 newborns

27. Jerry (2025)

• Babies named Jerry since 2000: 18,040 newborns

28. Karen (2025)

• Babies named Karen since 2000: 29,097 newborns

29. Lorenzo (2025)

• Babies named Lorenzo since 2000: 37,829 newborns

30. Melissa (2025)

• Babies named Melissa since 2000: 50,256 newborns

31. Nestor (2025)

• Babies named Nestor since 2000: 3,551 newborns

32. Olga (2025)

• Babies named Olga since 2000: 2,209 newborns

33. Pablo (2025)

• Babies named Pablo since 2000: 21,543 newborns

34. Rebekah (2025)

• Babies named Rebekah since 2000: 20,729 newborns

35. Sebastien (2025)

• Babies named Sebastien since 2000: 3,101 newborns

36. Tanya (2025)

• Babies named Tanya since 2000: 5,551 newborns

37. Van (2025)

• Babies named Van since 2000: 5,801 newborns

38. Wendy (2025)

• Babies named Wendy since 2000: 13,745 newborns

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.