Why are hurricanes given feminine names? Find out now!

if you ever wondered why hurricanes are given feminine names, you might be surprised at the story behind this fact. Throughout history, hurricanes have been given both feminine and masculine names. But most of them – and also the most destructive – went with female names. What underlies the choice of a hurricane’s name? Find out now!

Biggest hurricanes of recent times

The number of hurricanes in the world has increased significantly in recent years. Luckily, Brazil practically does not suffer the effects of hurricanes and typhoons, due to its geographical position on the planet. Eastern countries, however, are annually punished with these events of nature. Interesting to note that hurricanes are given names and they are mostly female.

In 2015, Hurricane Katrina left more than 1800 people dead. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy affected 160 people. More recently, in the year 2016, Typhoon Yolanda devastated the Philippines, killing more than 4,000 people. Hurricanes with female names are the most destructive in history, with thousands of deaths in their wake.

We’ve also had hurricanes with male names, like Andrew in 1992, Ivan in 2004 and Charley in the same year. The number of people killed by these events of nature, however, never exceeded the tens. The question remains as to why hurricanes are mostly given female names and are more dangerous.

Why hurricanes are given female names – The relationship with this sex

If you thought that the answer to the question of why hurricanes are given feminine names lies in the personality of women, you were wrong. The main foundation is far from this. Hurricanes can be destructive, but it’s not even possible to make comparisons with female PMS. These events of nature are serious and really dangerous.

Research can help unravel the mystery. To clearly answer why hurricanes are given feminine names, researchers at the Universities of Arizona and Illinois, both in the United States, began to investigate hurricanes throughout history.

They came to the understanding that the feminine name given to a hurricane can generate in the population the feeling that the event of nature is not so serious. This may be related to the cultural imaginary that women are more fragile than men. This conclusion, worryingly, explains why female-named hurricanes generate more deaths.

When a hurricane strikes, the people who will be affected by it must take immediate steps to protect themselves. They seek out community- or government-built shelters or travel to other cities, for example. When the hurricane receives a feminine name, this care is less, as people understand that the hurricane will not be so violent.

Masculine names generate in people a greater sense of worry and fear than masculine names, the researchers argued in publishing the research results. Perhaps this data explains why hurricanes are given feminine names. It may be a way for the government to minimize the reaction of the population, avoiding panic.

How hurricanes are named these days

Currently, the choice of names for hurricanes is done in a pre-established way. There is a fixed list of names, which vary from region to region, alternating male and female names. This means that there will now be gender balance in hurricane names.
The fact is that it is not known for sure why hurricanes are mostly given female names. It is speculated that the answer lies in the conclusion reached by researchers at the Universities of Arizona and Illinois.

If that’s the reason – to lessen people’s panic – then the practice has had no positive effects, as hurricanes with female names have killed far more throughout history. Each male-named hurricane killed an average of 15 people, while the female-named hurricane killed an average of 42.

The question of why hurricanes are given feminine names will remain intrigued by many. With the change in the way of naming hurricanes, we will now also have names in the masculine form, interspersed. Hurricanes ravage the region through which they pass, leaving a trail of destruction and often causing fatalities.

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