The word hurricane is derived from the Taino language of Central America and its literal translation is "god of evil."

During the 18th century, an Australian meteorologist, Clement Wragge, began a tradition of naming hurricanes and tropical storms using female names. The US weather service began using women's names in the identification of hurricanes in 1953. This all changed in 1978 when both men's and women's names began to be used.

The year 2003 name list for hurricanes as created by the World Meteorological Organization (for Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean storms only):
Ana
Bill
Claudette
Danny
Erika
Fabian
Grace
Henri
Isabel
Juan
Kate
Larry
Mindy
Nicholas
Odette
Peter
Rose
Sam
Teresa
Victor
Wanda

The letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not used because there are few names beginning with these letters.

Lists are reused every six years, but a specific name will be retired if a storm makes landfall and has a grave economic impact on society.

Hurricane hazards include high winds, tornados, heavy rain fall and storm surges. Storm surges are by far the greatest potential for the loss of life from hurricanes. Historically 9 out of ten victims of hurricanes died from storm surges.