Who decides the names of cyclones affecting India?
IMD assigns the name, using a regional list agreed in advance. The next word depends on the list order, not the coast a storm approaches.
When a cyclone forms in the Bay of Bengal or Arabian Sea, who chooses its name? The India Meteorological Department (IMD) assigns the next name from a regional list agreed in advance.
Series: Who Decides?
Who assigns the name?
The responsible office is the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre in New Delhi, part of IMD. It names storms over both seas, including those that never reach an Indian coast. The World Meteorological Organization's naming page describes this regional role.
The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones agrees which words belong on the list. The New Delhi centre then assigns the next word when a system reaches the required strength.
Why doesn't every depression have a name?
The region's operational plan, hosted by IMD, sets a wind-speed threshold of 34 knots for naming. A knot measures speed in nautical miles per hour. At that threshold, the system reaches the category called a cyclonic storm.
The same classification puts depressions at 17–27 knots and deep depressions at 28–33 knots, both below the naming threshold. The plan also provides for forecasts from the depression stage when a system is expected to intensify. Forecasters can therefore track and issue information about a system before it receives a name. A name identifies the storm, while a forecast describes where it is moving and how strong it could become.
Where do the words come from?
A Ministry of Earth Sciences release dated 28 April 2020 records the list adopted that month: 13 countries contributed 13 names each, giving 169 names. India's entries include Gati, Tej and Murasu.
The names had to be short, pronounceable and neutral about politics, religion, culture and gender. The panel could reject proposals or review an agreed name if a member raised a reasonable objection.
How does the order work?
The contributing countries appear alphabetically down the table. Names are taken down one column before moving to the next. The WMO table shows the opening sequence:
| Name | Country that contributed it |
|---|---|
| Nisarga | Bangladesh |
| Gati | India |
| Nivar | Iran |
The list order, rather than the coast a storm approaches, determines the name. A word supplied by Bangladesh or Iran can therefore name a storm affecting India.
Once a name has been used in this north Indian Ocean system, it is not reused. Naming here began in September 2004; the 2020 table succeeded the earlier list. Other ocean basins have their own arrangements, so this sequence is not a worldwide queue.
What does a name help people do?
The Ministry's release explains why naming helps: people can identify and remember one storm, distinguish it from other systems, and receive warnings more quickly. Forecasters, reporters and the public can refer to the same storm by name.
The name alone cannot tell people the storm's location, forecast track, wind or other hazards; those details are in the latest bulletin. For the separate question of who moves people out of danger, see who decides cyclone evacuations in India.