Dubai: Contrary to convention, the cyclone that is playing havoc in the Gulf of Oman is not named after a person. Gonu means a bag made of palm leaves in the language of the Maldives.
Tropical storms or cyclones in the south west Indian Ocean from where Gonu is being monitored, are given their names by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in La Reunion Island, which has responsibilities for the Southwest Indian Ocean basin.
The tradition of naming storms and hurricanes after people was begun by an Australian meteorologist Clement Lindley Wragge in the 19th century. He named particularly destructive ones after women and politicians who displeased him.
This ad hoc and genderist approach was dropped in modern times, and storms came to be named after both men and women.
Currently, in the North Atlantic and Northeastern Pacific, feminine and masculine names are alternated in alphabetic order during a given season. The gender of the season's first storm also alternates year to year.
But unlike in the north Atlantic, in the Meteorological Center at La Reunion Island, new names are made up for every storm year and not recycled cyclically.
