Names of Western North Pacific
Tropical Cyclones

These are the names of typhoons or tropical cyclones originating north of the equator and west of the International Dateline in the Northern Pacific. The system was created in 2000 by the Joint Typhoon Warning System. The names differ from the other tropical cyclone name rosters in two ways:

• Most of the names are not personal names, but names of flowers, animals, birds, trees, or even foods. Some are even adjectives. The meanings of many of the names are given at www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/sound/tc_pronunciatione.htm 
• The order of the names is based on the alphabetical order of the countries contributing the name, so Cambodia's “Damrey” comes before China's “Longwang”.

Fourteen nations or territories contributed ten names each for a total of 140 names. The names are used sequentially; the columns are not years. When the bottom of a list is reached one goes to the top of the next list.  If the bottom of a list is not reached by the end of the typhoon season, the first storm in the next season will be given the name following the name of last year's last storm, on the same list. 

The first 42 names are:

The Hong Kong Observatory makes pronunciations of these names available as audio clips. (RealPlayer is required.) Access: www.hko.gov.hk/informtc/sound/tcname2000e.htm

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Last revised: 29 November 2005.