Retirement Names - Dorian, Fernand, Nestor

[Ad Novoxium]

I have been a bit mystified in the past as to how the WMO people come up with replacement names. I was particularly amazed when they replaced Katrina and Rita with Katia and Rina. Why would they choose two names so similar to the ones they just replaced, it one of the points of replacement is to remove names which have connotations of overwhelming particular disasters? Both Katia and Rina are shortened forms of Katrina! It looks to me like there wasn't much thought put into the replacement names at all, but that someone just came up with the first other name that sprang to mind by quick association with the original name. That seems unfortunate, especially since there were plenty of other names starting with K or R to choose instead.

I did not notice the Katia and Rina connection, though each sounds too much like the names they replaced. This year's list for the Eastern Pacific will also have Karina on it for the first time. It was chosen two years before Katrina, but someone should've noticed the similarity.

What's worse is that all those two names amount to was pulling apart "Katrina". Rip it in half, and you get "Kat", and "Rina", giving you the R name. All they did for Kat was find an ending that made a name and added it to that, thus making Katia (though KatYA would've been better). The legacy of Katrina isn't gone: It lives on throw multiple incarnations now (Katia, Karina, Rina). I mean, I love the name "Rina", but honestly WMO.

[Cyclone1]

thus making Katia (though KatYA would've been better).

Katia is pronounced Katya.

[Cyclenall]

What's worse is that all those two names amount to was pulling apart "Katrina". Rip it in half, and you get "Kat", and "Rina", giving you the R name.

I never noticed that before, cool. They really didn't have time to come up with more names.

[HurricaneBill]

I didn't like it when they replaced Fabian with Fred. The reason being that Fabian had been the replacement name for Frederic.

If Alex gets retired, is the WMO going to replace it with Andy? (Alex had replaced Andrew)

[Ad Novoxium]

thus making Katia (though KatYA would've been better).

Katia is pronounced Katya.

Oops, sorry. I meant to explain this: the NHC pronunciation guide says that Katia is pronounced "ka-TEE-ah", with an embellished T bridging to the A with an e sound (Katrina was similar, but with a slight R and N sound for the added letters). The Katya I mentioned is the Russian version, with a stop between the T and Y and a strong A sound on both As, like "kaht-yah". That way, it sounds less like "Katrina" than Katia does. Plus, the names lists do use names that are tied to Slavic or the immediate region (Ivan, Igor, Gaston, Gustav), but are likely names in other countries that have say in the Atlantic (Mexico maybe), so the idea of Katya as I put it isn't far out of the question...but its a diminuitive version of the Russian name Yekaterina, so it may not be the best idea of names.

[StormScanWx]

Wow. This is sort of rediculous on the WMO's part. Has there not been an announcement yet? (and how long has the meeting been over? )

[Chacor]

Wow. This is sort of rediculous on the WMO's part. Has there not been an announcement yet? (and how long has the meeting been over? )

We will know when they release the final report from the meeting. It takes time to draft that report.

[RL3AO]

Was the meeting later then previous years? It seems that 2005 names were released in early April.

[Chacor]

Was the meeting later then previous years? It seems that 2005 names were released in early April.

I checked. NOAA announced the 2005 retired names two days after the end of the meeting (April 6; meeting ended Apr 4).

[RattleMan]

Was the meeting later then previous years? It seems that 2005 names were released in early April.

I checked. NOAA announced the 2005 retired names two days after the end of the meeting (April 6; meeting ended Apr 4).

Indeed; here's the story: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2607.htm

[Buck]

I emailed someone at the WMO last week and they finally wrote back today.

Looks like we now have Dorian, Fernand & Nestor.

Thank you very much for your interest in change of hurricane names. Actually, the Hurricane Committee just completed its annual session a week ago. As is the normal practice, the Committee considered retirement of the names of cyclones of significant strength or impact during the previous hurricane season. “Dean”, “Felix”, and “Noel” on the Atlantic list were retired and replaced by “Dorian”, “Fernand” and “Nestor”, respectively. This statement was excerpted from the draft final report of the annual session, which will be posted on the website http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/tcp/reports.html once it is finalized.

Best Regards,

[RL3AO]

Good stuff Buck.

[Chacor]

I did come across France's report to the session in which they asked for Felix and Noel to be retired. They gave three possible replacement names for Felix (including "Fernand" and "Firmin") and suggested Nestor for Noel.

[HURAKAN]

If it's Fernand, then Felix wasn't used as a Spanish name. Right?

[Chacor]

If it's Fernand, then Felix wasn't used as a Spanish name. Right?

I suspect it was used as a French name, but if I remember correctly France's report suggested it could have been interpreted as a Spanish or French name, either way.

[senorpepr]

Personally, I think too much weight is put on the origin of the name.

I don't believe (although I could be wrong) that there is any rule that a retired name must be replaced by a name of the same origin.

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

If it's Fernand, then Felix wasn't used as a Spanish name. Right?

I suspect it was used as a French name, but if I remember correctly France's report suggested it could have been interpreted as a Spanish or French name, either way.

Felix is originally a Latin saint's name which has had the same form (except for diacritical marks) in English, French, and Spanish since medieval times. The English place name Felixstowe shows that the name goes back centuries in English. And of course most Americans should be familiar with both Felix Unger of The Odd Couple and the cartoon character Felix the Cat. So it can be interpreted as being from any of the three languages.

Nestor is also a name with the same form, except for diacritical marks, in all three languages. It's originally from Greek mythology, the name of a character featured in the Argosy, Odyssey, and Iliad. It's been quite rare as a name for real boys in English speaking countries and almost as rare in France. Nestor has been very well-used, though, in Spanish speaking Latin America and within the Hispanic community in the USA. If one was going to assign it to one of the three languages, it really should be thought of as a "Spanish" name.

Most experts think that Dorian was originally invented as a given name by the English author Oscar Wilde for the title character in his 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Before Wilde, Dorian was only an adjective referring to a region of ancient Greece and architectural styles associated with it. So by origin Dorian is really an English given name. It's been rather common for boys born in France the last couple of decades, however, so the French have obviously accepted it as a "French" name even though a couple of generations ago it probably would have been thought to be an eccentric English name. In the USA, Dorian has been most popular in the African-American community.

[KWT]

I like those names, mind you seems to have taken a while to get them done but I suppose that means we have 3 hurricanes retired last season.

[masaji79]

I am surprised that they chose Fernand, since it is so close to Fernanda in the Eastern Pacific name list. But then again they do have some names that are similar on both sides.
Georges and Georgette
Iris and Isis
Katrina and Karina
Vince and Vance
Wilma and Willa

[Cyclenall]

I feel like the names Fernand and Nestor have been used somewhere else before. They are good names for hurricanes though.