In 1953, The National Hurricane Centre began naming storms, rather than relying on the old system of map coordinates for identification. Originally, all storms were named for women, but, starting in 1979, men's and women's names were alternated.

An international committee of the World Meteorological Organization now creates and maintains the annual lists. Names are used on a six-year rotation, meaning the 2005 list will come up again in 2011.

Names of especially damaging and deadly storms are retired. From the 2004 list, Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, four major hurricanes that struck Florida, will not reappear when the list returns in 2010.

On this year's list, Franklin and Lee replace Floyd and Lenny, which were retired in 1999.