As Hurricane Isaias lingers across the Alabama Gulf Coast, residents getting ready for the storm may be wondering where its name came from and why was this particular name chosen.
Isaias is the Spanish version of the biblical name Isaiah, and the name became part of the International Atlantic hurricane naming system after Hurricane Ike was removed from the rotating list following the 2008 hurricane season.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Ike was retired after the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season because of the extensive damage and destruction it caused, particularly along the Texas coast.
Ike struck the Texas coast in September 2008, producing devastating storm surge and widespread flooding. The name Isaias was then selected to replace Ike on the 2014 Atlantic hurricane list.
According to NOAA, a name can be removed when the storm is so deadly or costly that using it again would be inappropriate or insensitive, and the decision is intended to avoid confusion and preserve the historical significance of particularly destructive hurricanes.
The World Meteorological Organization uses six lists of Atlantic storm names that rotate every six years. That means, the names used in 2026 are the same ones that were used in 2020, 2014 and 2008, with exceptions for storms whose names have been retired.
But having a name on the list does not guarantee that a storm will receive it.
In 2014, the Atlantic hurricane season produced only eight named storms, meaning the list never reached Isaias. The name was eventually used for the first time in 2020, when Hurricane Isaias affected areas in the Caribbean, the Bahamas and the eastern United States.
The practice of naming tropical storms is made to make weather warnings easier to understand, remember and communicate. According to the World Meteorological Organization, names are selected from predetermined lists developed by regional meteorological officials rather than being chosen individually as storms form.
The organization said that the names are selected to be familiar to people across the regions affected by tropical storms.
Atlantic hurricane lists include English, Spanish and French names to reflect the different languages spoken throughout North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and the lists vary between traditionally male and female names.
Along with Ike, other retired Atlantic hurricane names include Katrina, which devastated portions of the Gulf Coast in 2005; Ivan, which struck the Alabama Gulf Coast in 2004; and Michael, which caused catastrophic damage in the Florida Panhandle in 2018.
Gabriella Chavez is a Report for America corps member who writes about growth and development in Baldwin County and our natural spaces for Gulf Coast Media. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today.
