Below is the list of hurricane names for the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The Atlantic Hurricane names lists are used in rotation and re-cycled every six years, i.e., the 2020 list will be used again in 2026.

The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity.

If a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the next name in the list based on the current calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone formed on December 28th, it would take the name from the previous season’s list of names. If a storm formed in February, it would be named from the subsequent season’s list of names.

In the event that more than twenty-one named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet.

2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Names:

Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gonzalo
Hanna
Isaias
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paulette
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred

How Are Hurricanes Named?

During World War II, the practice of naming storms became widespread in weather map discussions among forecasters, especially Army and Navy meteorologists who plotted the movements of storms over the wide expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1953, the United States abandoned a confusing two-year-old plan to name storms by a phonetic alphabet (Able, Baker, Charlie) when a new, international phonetic alphabet was introduced. That year, the United States began using female names for storms.

The practice of naming hurricanes solely after women came to an end in 1978 when men’s and women’s names were included in the Eastern North Pacific storm lists.

In 1979, male and female names were included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico where two male names were only used once and then retired, David and Frederic.

List of Retired Atlantic Hurricane Names

Agnes 1972
Alicia 1983
Allen 1980
Allison 2001
Andrew 1992
Anita 1977
Audrey 1957
Betsy 1965
Beulah 1967
Bob 1991
Camille 1969
Carla 1961
Carmen 1974
Carol 1954
Celia 1970
Cesar 1996
Charley 2004
Cleo 1964
Connie 1955
David 1979
Dean 2007
Dennis 2005
Diana 1990
Diane 1955
Donna 1960
Dora 1964
Edna 1954
Elena 1985
Eloise 1975
Erika 2015
Fabian 2003
Felix 2007
Fifi 1974
Flora 1963
Florence 2018
Floyd 1999
Fran 1996
Frances 2004
Frederic 1979
Georges 1998
Gilbert 1988
Gloria 1985
Greta 1978
Gustav 2008
Harvey 2017
Hattie 1961
Hazel 1954
Hilda 1964
Hortense 1996
Hugo 1989
Igor 2010
Ike 2008
Inez 1966
Ingrid 2013
Ione 1955
Irene 2011
Iris 2001
Irma 2017
Isabel 2003
Isidore 2002
Ivan 2004
Janet 1955
Jeanne 2004
Joan 1988
Joaquin 2015
Juan 2003
Katrina 2005
Keith 2000
Klaus 1990
Lenny 1999
Lili 2002
Luis 1995
Maria 2017
Marilyn 1995
Matthew 2016
Michael 2018
Michelle 2001
Mitch 1998
Nate 2017
Noel 2007
Opal 1995
Otto 2016
Paloma 2008
Rita 2005
Roxanne 1995
Sandy 2012
Stan 2005
Tomas 2010
Wilma 2005