Should there be Y and Z hurricane names?

[hurricanexyz]

Should there be hurricane names that begin with Y or Z? i think they should because they are allot of people named Zach out there but not X because X is a bit to hard to come up with names.

[HurricaneRyan]

Maybe.

Though the Atlantic can't use York, Yolanda, Zeke & Zelda, as those are being used in the EPAC.

[WeatherGuesser]

Drop all names. Go to numbers.

Maybe there won't be so many threads about names then.

[RainbowAppleJackDash]

Of course! We need a Zsa Zsa!!

[greenkat]

I'm not sure about this. On one hand, this would really save us from resorting to the Greek alphabet *cough 2005 cough*, but on the other, we might run out of common names quickly.

[Cleveland Kent Evans]

Since getting to the end of the list is so rare (after all, 2005 is the only time they've ever used the V and W names so far, much less gone into the Greek alphabet) there really are enough Y and Z names that they could add them without much trouble.

Y might have been more troublesome a generation ago, but "Y" names have become so popular in the Hispanic community that there are now lots of them which are no longer rare in the USA (or in Spanish speaking countries that regularly have to deal with Atlantic hurricanes).

Yadiel, Yahir, Yandel, Yael, Yariel, and Yerik are some male examples. Combining those with older "Anglo" Y male names like Yale and Yancey and the French names Yves and Yannick, you get a list that would suffice for the forseeable future.

Yesenia, Yadira, Yahaira, Yamilet, Yaneli, Yareli, Yaretzi, Yaritza, Yuriana, and Yuritzi are modern Hispanic female names that are no longer unusual. Adding in names like Yvette, Yvonne, Yetta, and Yasmeen also gives you enough of them.

For Z, you have the male names Zachary, Zack, Zayden, Zadok, Zahir, Zamir, Zander, Zane, Zavion, Zaylen, Zeb, Zed, Zephaniah, Zeus, Zev, Zion, Zoltan, and Zuriel and the female names Zahara, Zada, Zadie, Zakiyah, Zamora, Zara, Zariah, Zayla, Zella, Zendaya, Zenobia, Zia, Zina, Zinnia, Zoe, Zoila, Zola, Zora, Zuleika, Zulema, and Zuri.

If you started off with lists something like Yale, Yvonne, Yannick, Yesenia, Yahir, and Yetta followed by Zoe, Zack, Zara, Zane, Zina, and Zeb, you'd have two great sets for both Y and Z with lots of possible replacements for the very rare event when one of those would get retired -- which probably would be only once ever 30 years at most. After all, in the whole 58 year history of hurricane naming, we've never retired a "V" name and only one "W".

(Remember York, Yolanda, Zelda, and Zeke are already on the Eastern Pacific lists, which is why I didn't use them above.)

[Hurricane Andrew]

Drop all names. Go to numbers.

Maybe there won't be so many threads about names then.

This is more than a bad idea, and one of the reasons they dropped numbers.

"Boy, hurricane four was a bad one"
"Which hurricane four?"

[RainbowAppleJackDash]

Since getting to the end of the list is so rare (after all, 2005 is the only time they've ever used the V and W names so far, much less gone into the Greek alphabet) there really are enough Y and Z names that they could add them without much trouble.

Y might have been more troublesome a generation ago, but "Y" names have become so popular in the Hispanic community that there are now lots of them which are no longer rare in the USA (or in Spanish speaking countries that regularly have to deal with Atlantic hurricanes).

Yadiel, Yahir, Yandel, Yael, Yariel, and Yerik are some male examples. Combining those with older "Anglo" Y male names like Yale and Yancey and the French names Yves and Yannick, you get a list that would suffice for the forseeable future.

Yesenia, Yadira, Yahaira, Yamilet, Yaneli, Yareli, Yaretzi, Yaritza, Yuriana, and Yuritzi are modern Hispanic female names that are no longer unusual. Adding in names like Yvette, Yvonne, Yetta, and Yasmeen also gives you enough of them.

For Z, you have the male names Zachary, Zack, Zayden, Zadok, Zahir, Zamir, Zander, Zane, Zavion, Zaylen, Zeb, Zed, Zephaniah, Zeus, Zev, Zion, Zoltan, and Zuriel and the female names Zahara, Zada, Zadie, Zakiyah, Zamora, Zara, Zariah, Zayla, Zella, Zendaya, Zenobia, Zia, Zina, Zinnia, Zoe, Zoila, Zola, Zora, Zuleika, Zulema, and Zuri.

If you started off with lists something like Yale, Yvonne, Yannick, Yesenia, Yahir, and Yetta followed by Zoe, Zack, Zara, Zane, Zina, and Zeb, you'd have two great sets for both Y and Z with lots of possible replacements for the very rare event when one of those would get retired -- which probably would be only once ever 30 years at most. After all, in the whole 58 year history of hurricane naming, we've never retired a "V" name and only one "W".

(Remember York, Yolanda, Zelda, and Zeke are already on the Eastern Pacific lists, which is why I didn't use them above.)

Zendaya = Zendaya Coleman?? I like SiU
what about arabic, african, or eastern european names? Yekaterina? XD

[Category5Kaiju]

So this response comes in the context of the aftermath of the busiest hurricane season on record (with 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2019 coming somewhat close to going Greek) with several highly retirement-worthy and historic Greek storms, and my answer to this question is it definitely would not hurt. Yasmine, Yuma, Yvette, and Yelena are some examples of Y female names that can also be pronounced with ease and would be cool hurricane names (at least imho), and Yusuf, Yaar, Yuri, and Yahir are some Y male names I can think of. For Z, Zachary, Zayne, Zion, and Zymir are some Z male names, and Zoe, Zaylee, Zora, and Zina would be some Z female names.

While there are quite a bit of possibilities, I think if the WMO decides that the names in the Atlantic can tap into languages like Hebrew, Russian, Arabic, or Persian (where many of the aforementioned names originate), then I don't see any real issue of "running out of Y or Z names." So long as the picked names can be pronounced quickly, easily, and without confusion (and we use the EPAC method of using one unique Y/female, Y/male, Z/female, and Z/male name over the lists at a time), then they would be proper names to use especially if people need to prepare seriously and the hurricane is a monster Cat 4 or 5. Here is a purely hypothetical example at what I think the naming lists would look like should this new policy be implemented (I replaced Dorian and Laura with my personal top favorite replacement names given there is almost a guarantee they are retired).


LIST 1
Ana Bill Claudette Danny Elsa Fred Grace Henri Ida Julian Kate
Larry Mindy Nicholas Odette Peter Rose Sam Teresa Victor Wanda Yuri Zoe

LIST 2
Alex Bonnie Colin Danielle Earl Fiona Gaston Hermine Ian Julia Karl
Lisa Martin Nicole Owen Paula Richard Shary Tobias Virginie Walter Yelena Zachary

LIST 3
Arlene Bret Cindy Don Emily Franklin Gert Harold Idalia Jose Katia
Lee Margot Nigel Ophelia Philippe Rina Sean Tammy Vince Whitney Yuri Zoe

LIST 4
Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Francine Gordon Helene Isaac Joyce Kirk
Leslie Milton Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sara Tony Valerie William Yelena Zachary

LIST 5
Andrea Barry Chantal Derek Erin Fernand Gabrielle Humberto Imelda Jerry Karen
Lorenzo Melissa Nestor Olga Pablo Rebekah Sebastien Tanya Van Wendy Yuri Zoe

LIST 6
Arthur Bertha Cristobal Dolly Edouard Fay Gonzalo Hanna Isaias Josephine Kyle
Lorraine Marco Nana Omar Paulette Rene Sally Teddy Vicky Wilfred Yelena Zachary


Now whether we follow an aux normal name list after exhausting the 23 names on each list or use the names in a rolling manner like the WPAC and South Pacific basins do would entail a separate discussion, but one thing for sure if we do include Y and Z names is we will likely have less of a chance of running out of names and needing to go to an aux list (assuming we go with the aux list method), and by adding more letters in we probably won't have to worry about general public confusion and questions on why Y and Z are skipped.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Should there be hurricane names that begin with Y or Z? i think they should because they are allot of people named Zach out there but not X because X is a bit to hard to come up with names.

I think they should use the ENTIRE alphabet so when they say they've used the whole alphabet it will be an honest fact. Any quick search will find a LOT of names with Q, both male and female, and the same for X, as well as Y and Z. This would expand the alphabet to four more possible named storms and lessen the "extension' names which I find insulting to anyone with these names
Q - Boy: Q - Girl:
Quinn Queenie
Quincy Qing
Quentin Quianna
Quinton Quinella
Quintin Quang
Quest Quireena
Quinten Queenette
Quinto Quesia
Quade Qiyara
Qasim Quianna
Quinlan Quanda
Quincey Quenby
Quetzalli Quinci
Quetzalli Quinn
Quin Quilla
Quill Qadira
Quent Quiterrie
Quinlynn Quinta
Qadir Qacha
Quenton Querida
Quana Qaifa

Yep a lot look strange to the Anglo world, but not to the French, Spanish, Arabic, Irish, and Hebrew... That's PLENTY enough names for the letter Q for well over a 6 year cycle with more than a dozen replacements if needed. Q was the toughest. I could easily find well over 50 names for boys and 50 more for girls using X, using Y, and using Z. It's time for them to get over their parochialism and realize we can have names for EVERY letter in the alphabet, without skipping ANY. Ahhh, but then it might be a bit more difficult to boast about "finishing the whole alphabet." I would much prefer they use some of the exotic names than go to that absurd list of "supplementary names" which includes names every bit as unusual as these shown here. USE THE ALPHABET and stop Skipping letters.