Tropical cyclone names often sound like a mix of cuisine, wildlife and local sayings, but the process behind them follows a structured international system.
How the Typhoon Committee builds its lists
The Typhoon Committee, created in 1968 by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization, maintains an active roster of 140 names. The roster is split into five columns and cycles every four to five years, depending on storm frequency. Each of the committee’s 14 members – including the United States, China, North and South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia – contributes ten names drawn from its own language and culture. This results in a mix of animals, plants, mythic figures and food items.
Recent additions illustrate the variety. In June, the Hong Kong Observatory announced “Dim‑sum” as its latest contribution, reflecting the city’s famous bite‑size cuisine. Earlier, “Dolphin” was used for a typhoon that battered mainland China, Taiwan and Japan, referencing Hong Kong’s mascot animal. Other names from the Pacific include “Peilou,” a spoonbill bird chosen by Macau, and “Chan‑hom,” after a Laotian tree.
Names such as “Gaeguri” (frog in Korean), “Burapha” (the Thai word for “east”) and “Tirou” (a Micronesian greeting) also appear on the latest list released in March. The diversity aims to give each region a sense of ownership over the naming system.
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Historical shifts and public involvement
During World War II, Asian meteorologists were barred from working on forecasts, which were treated as military intelligence. After the war, the United States provided forecasts from Guam, using a list of exclusively female names drawn from personal contacts. By the 1970s, the U.S. began adding male names following gender‑equality pressures.
In the 1990s, committee members pushed to replace the American list with regional names and opened the process to public submissions. The Philippines, often the first country in a storm’s path, created its own criteria in 1999, rejecting names deemed indecent or ambiguous across languages. Two names submitted by Hong Kong in 2005 – “Taichi” and “Kapok” – were turned down for potential misinterpretation.
“Dim‑sum” passed the review without controversy. Lui Yuk Sing, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Observatory, said it was selected by the public in 2024.
When a storm becomes especially deadly, its name may be retired. The Philippines stopped using “Yolanda” after the 2013 typhoon that killed more than 6,000 people, and the Typhoon Committee retired “Haiyan” in 2015. This year, “Dim‑sum” replaces “Man‑yi,” a name retired after a storm caused over a dozen deaths in the Philippines.
For residents in coastal villages, the shift to locally resonant names can make warnings feel more immediate.
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When a storm is called “Dolphin,” people instantly associate it with a familiar city emblem, which may prompt quicker preparation than a generic alphanumeric label.
What the naming system means for preparedness
Names are more than labels; they are tools for communication. Meteorological agencies across Asia use the committee’s list to issue alerts, and the names appear in media reports, emergency bulletins and public advisories. Because each name is unique and culturally relevant, it reduces the risk of confusion when multiple systems develop simultaneously.
Storms cannot be named after public figures, politicians or celebrities, and any name that could be perceived as offensive is screened out. This policy helps keep the focus on safety rather than controversy.
As climate patterns shift, the frequency of tropical cyclones may change, but the naming framework remains a stable element of regional disaster response. The next time a storm named “Dim‑sum” gathers strength over the Pacific, officials will already have a clear, culturally familiar term to use in warnings, and residents will recognize the name as part of an established system.