Atlantic:
- 1947: Phonetic alphabet started being used to name storms internally by Air Weather Service, but not to the public.
- 1950: Phonetic alphabet was used in public. This was the first year in which Atlantic storms were given names.
- 1953-54: The first naming list was created. At the time, the same naming list was to be used every year, and thus the same names were used in both years. 1953 was the first year in which Atlantic storms were given human names.
- 1954: Three names were retired for the first time. At the time, they were to be retired for 10 years, after which they may be used again.
- 1955-59: A new naming list was created at the start of each year. (Except Alice in 1955, which formed in December 1954 but was named in January 1955. This happened after the decision to use distinct naming lists per year was made, but before the 1955 list was created.)
- 1960-70: 4 rotating naming lists were created and used.
- 1969: Retirement of names became permanent, as opposed to for 10 years.
- 1971-78: 10 rotating naming lists were created by NOAA, and were to be used for 1971-80 as the first rotation. However, only the first 8 were used.
- 1972: Subtropical storms began to be officially recognized and started receiving names from the phonetic alphabet. Subtropical storms that later transition into fully tropical storms would receive a new name from the standard naming list upon transition.
- 1979: The 6 modern naming lists were created by WMO and started this year, with both male and female names. (All earlier naming lists only included female names.) If the naming list was to be exhausted, Greek alphabet would be used (which happened in 2005 and 2020).
- 2000: Storms that cross between Atlantic and East Pacific basins will now retain their name. Prior to this season, they would change to a new name from the second basin upon entering it, provided the intensity was at TS or higher. The last crossover storm to receive two names was Cesar-Douglas 1996; the first crossover storm to retain a single name was Otto 2016.
- 2002: Subtropical storms now receive names from the standard naming list.
- 2021: The use of the Greek alphabet was discontinued, and a new auxiliary list is created. Names will be pulled from the auxiliary list after the main list is exhausted.
Eastern Pacific:
- 1960-1965: 4 naming lists with only female names were created. At that time, they were used in a "wraparound" fashion, where each year picked up from where the previous year left off, and a subsequent list would be used following the W storm in the previous list. 1960 was the first year in which EPAC storms were given names.
- 1965: Despite finishing List 2 with Wallie during the season, subsequent storms returned to the start of List 2 with Ava.
- 1966-1977: The 4 naming lists were now used in yearly rotations, starting with the A storm of a new list each year. Otherwise, the same 4 naming lists from 1960-65 were used: 1966 started with List 3 (following 1965's List 2).
- 1978-1982: 4 of the 6 modern naming lists were created by WMO and rotated during these 5 years, with both male and female names. Initially, they were to be the only 4 naming lists in EPAC. They are today's List 4 (Aletta), List 1 (Andres), List 2 (Agatha) and List 3 (Adrian), in order from 1978 to 1981. If the naming list was to be exhausted, Greek alphabet would be used (which never happened in EPAC).
- 1982: As the rotation cycled back to List 4, two more naming lists were added, presumably to line up with the Atlantic's rotations. List 5 (Adolph, later replaced with Alvin) was first used in 1983, and List 6 (Alma, later replaced with Amanda) in 1984.
- 1985: X, Y and Z names were added to EPAC naming lists in October, due to the exceptionally active season causing fear of exhausting the naming list. These names rotate once every 2 years, unlike A-W names that rotate once every 6 years. The 1985 season only reached X; the 1992 season reached Z, while being the second and most recent time that the X name was used.
- 2000: Storms that cross between Atlantic and East Pacific basins will now retain their name. Prior to this season, they would change to a new name from the second basin upon entering it, provided the intensity was at TS or higher. The last crossover storm to receive two names was Cesar-Douglas 1996; the first crossover storm to retain a single name was Otto 2016.
- 2021: The use of the Greek alphabet was discontinued, and a new auxiliary list is created. Names will be pulled from the auxiliary list after the main list is exhausted. Note that EPAC's auxiliary list also contained X, Y and Z names, which are distinct from the two sets of X-Z names on the normal lists.
The CPHC redid their naming list around that time, so Paka was removed at the same time Ioke was. 
