I was just wondering why some kids have funny names. One theory I can think behind this logic is that may be, just maybe - the parents knew that child would bring them grief so this was a way to get back at them.
I can only imagine the father / mother going on with a smirk on their face - knowing all along that they will be the source of all the ridicules the baby will endure during his / her school years and perhaps if they are lucky even after! No matter what the kid does to bring hell to them - they know the name that they have given him /her will torment the poor soul even more.... ;-)
Have you ever had the opportunity of naming someone? Just imagine the possibility of having that immense power of what that poor innocent soul will be called for ever...
Speaking of names, I just found out that the first use of a proper name for a tropical cyclone was by an Australian forecaster early in this century. He gave tropical cyclone names "after political figures whom he disliked. By properly naming a cyclone or hurricane, the weatherman had the power to publicly describe a politician (who perhaps was not too generous with weather-bureau budget or perhaps really deserved it) as 'causing great distress' or 'wandering aimlessly about the Pacific'. Perhaps we should all vote and get that practice back in use... Imagine the commenter going, "Hurricane Bush has caused havoc around the globe..."
Anyway, the general idea behind naming the
cyclones is of course to provide ease of communication between forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings. Since the storms can often last a week or longer and that more than one can be occurring in the same basin at the same time, names can reduce the confusion about which storm is being described.
During World War II, tropical cyclones were informally given women's names by USA Air Force (typical) and Navy meteorologists (after their girlfriends or wives) who were monitoring and forecasting tropical cyclones over the Pacific.
From 1950 to 1952, tropical cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean were identified by the phonetic alphabet (Able-Baker-Charlie-etc.), but in 1953 the USA Weather Bureau switched it back to women's names. I guess they wanted more TV ratings and perhaps a woman's name would make the cyclone more vicious and dangerous and sexy and perhaps give its own character than Baker Charlie Alpha would.
In 1979, the WMO and the USA National Weather Service (NWS) switched to a list of names that also included men's names.
The Northeast Pacific basin tropical cyclones were named using women's names starting in 1959 for storms near Hawaii and in 1960 for the remainder of the Northeast Pacific basin. In 1978, both men's and women's names were utilized.
The Northwest Pacific basin tropical cyclones were given women's names officially starting in 1945 and men's names were also included beginning in 1979.
The North Indian Ocean region tropical cyclones are not named.
The Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclones were first named during the 1960/1961 season.
The Australian and South Pacific region (east of 90E, south of the equator) started giving women's names to the storms in 1964 and both men's and women's names in 1974/1975.
You can look for cyclones by their names
here.
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