In the past, hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the particular saint's day on which the hurricane occurred. Thus, "Hurricane Santa Ana", "San Felipe I" and "San Felipe II".
The first known meteorologist to assign names to tropical cyclones was Clement Wragge, an Australian meteorologist. Before the end of the l9th century, he began by using letters of the Greek alphabet, then from Greek and Roman mythology and progressed to the use of feminine names.
The use of a woman's name in identifying storm in the United States was published in the novel "Storm" by George R. Stewart in 1941. It has been the practice since then, but ended in 1978 when both names of men and women were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists. In 1979, male and female names were included in the lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
In the Philippines, following the American practice, Filipino names were assigned to storms since 1963; using names of people in alphabetical order, from A to Z. This practice is being continued until this day. Storms that enter the Philippines Area of Responsibility (PAR) were given name according to the alphabetical order. As such, a storm has two names: 'Filipino name' and 'international name'.
The international name list is being maintained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The names included in the list were agreed upon by the nations involved during international meetings of the WMO. If a storm was so deadly or costly, it would be deleted from the list and another name is selected to replace it during the annual meeting of WMO. As an example, Katrina was replaced after it devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Sources: World Meteorological Organization, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Weather Underground, Wikipedia, and PAG-ASA
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