What’s in a [her-ricane’s] Name Anyway?

What’s in a [her-ricane’s] Name Anyway?

Apparently, we have yet another issue with female names. A study by social researchers from the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona compiled evidence showing that hurricanes with women’s names cause more deaths than do “male” hurricanes. Although the authors of the study do not consider their conclusions to be the final word — indeed, one of the researchers went out of her way in a BBC interview to invite others to follow up with their own studies — it might not be a bad idea to check our gender biases. How will we respond to “Hanna” if “she” hits us — or to “Gonazlo” if “he” makes landfall?

The list of named storms for 2014 include two which may be considered “gender-neutral”. Yet I wonder how one might compile a list of gender-neutral names for upcoming hurricane seasons. Take a look at the list below. Which of these names do you consider male, which do you consider female, and which do you consider gender-neutral?

Addison Adrian Ainsley Alex Alexis Angel Arden Ashley Aubrey Avery	Bailey Beverly Blair Brett	Cameron Casey Cassidy Chance Chase Cherokee Cody (Codi) Cory (Corey, Cori) Courtney	Dakota Dale Dana Darby Darcy Devin (Devon) Dominique Drew Dylan	Elliott Ellis Emerson (Emmerson) Emery Evelyn
Finley Fran	Gale Grayson (Greyson)	Hadley Harlow Harper Hayden Hayley Hillary Hollis Hunter	Iman	Jamie Jayden (Jaden, Jaiden) Jocelyn Jordan Joyce
Kai Keegan Kelly Kelsey Kendall Kennedy Kim Kimberly	Lee (Leigh) Leslie (Lesley) Lindsay (Lindsey) Logan London Luca Lynn (Lin)	Mackenzie Madison Marlowe Meredith Micah Morgan Murphy	Noel Noor	Parker Paris Peyton (Payton) Phoenix
Quinn	Reese Reilly (Riley) Remy River Robin Rory Rowan Ryan	Sage Sandy Sawyer Shannon Shelby Shirley Sheridan Shiloh Sidney (Sydney) Sky Skyler (Skylar) Stacy (Stacey)	Tamara Teagan (Taegan) Terry Taylor Tracy (Tracey)	Vivian Whitney

Click here to see where this list of names came from. You might be surprised.

A list is only as good as its creator, and what defines “gender-neutral” is unique within the mind of that creator . Maybe you can add or subtract names from the list above and come up with a list that is more universally gender neutral. Or... can you? There are other “gender-neutral” lists in different languages at the link above; do other languages have the same problems with gender and names as English does?

One reason given for naming tropical cyclones with human names is that the general public seems to react better to news, forecasts, and warnings of storms with these labels than to labels like “alpha” or “#1". (By the way, Greek letters are used when the National Hurricane Center runs out of proper names, like we did not too many years ago.) Because of this (proven?) benefit, we probably won’t discard the practice of using proper names for these storms.

One name not on the list above is “Sandy.” The international committee of the World Meteorological Organization permanently retired this name because of sensitivity to this named storm’s unique destructive power in 2012. (A record five Atlantic-hurricane names were retired in 2005, a season that included Katrina.) But although the cost of the physical damage Sandy wrought on us is many billions of dollars, relatively few deaths occurred. (Of course, only minutes before the center of Sandy crossed the shore of New Jersey, it was reclassified as a “post-tropical storm.” That’s little consolation to those who experienced it’s 100-mile per hour winds and 14-food storm surge — but great consolation to those who didn’t have hurricane insurance...!!)

Still, I wonder how many people thought that “Sandy” was a male name. It wasn’t. The lists produced by the committee alternate between male and female names, and the committee also alternates the gender of the first name on the list each year. Sandy’s spot on the 2012 list was a “male” spot.

Gender-neutral lists for the naming of tropical cyclones should be accepted as the protocol — sooner rather than later. It would at least remove one probable variable that affects public reaction to warnings and forecasts, it might save lives, and it will remove one more debate over gender equality.