MANILA, Philippines – If your name is Nina, Vicky, or Tonyo, you may be more famous this year.
State weather bureau PAGASA on Wednesday, May 25, released a list of tropical cyclone names for 2016 featuring common Filipino names like Enteng and Pepito, and less common names like Ofel and Ulysses.
These names were chosen from thousands of submissions to a contest PAGASA conducted in 1999. First used in 2001, the new list replaced a roster of female Filipino nicknames ending with "ng," like Rosing and Huaning.
Here is the full list of names to be given to tropical cyclones that enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this year:
| Ambo | Ferdie | Karen | Pepito | Ulysses |
| Butchoy | Gener | Lawin | Quinta | Vicky |
| Carina | Helen | Marce | Rolly | Warren |
| Dindo | Igme | Nina | Siony | Yoyong |
| Enteng | Julian | Ofel | Tonyo | Zosimo |
Rainy season
While the Philippines is visited by an average of 20 typhoons a year, PAGASA has also reserved at least 10 more auxiliary names, in case the names on the list are exhausted.
PAGASA expects 7 to 17 tropical cyclones to hit the Philippines from May to October. In the last quarter of the year, the frequency of typhoons will also increase because of the looming La Niña phenomenon. (READ: Rainy season begins in the Philippines)
Naming typhoons
PAGASA has 4 sets of typhoon names that are used every 4 years. This year's set was also used in 2008 and 2012.
The regular names start with every letter of the alphabet except for the letter X. The first storm in a calendar year that enters the PAR is given a name that starts with the letter A – in this year's case, Ambo.
Every storm thereafter is assigned the next name on the current set's list. For the following calendar year, PAGASA uses the next set of regular names and returns to the letter A.
The auxiliary names are arranged alphabetically from A to J, and used only when all regular names have been exhausted within a calendar year.
Decommissioning typhoon names
Typhoon names can also be decommissioned, when it has met at least one of these two requirements:
- at least 300 deaths
- P1 billion worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure
A typhoon name can also be dropped if it is closely associated with a prominent personality, to avoid public ridicule. (READ: PAGASA drops Nona as typhoon name)
In the past, the following typhoon names were decommissioned:
- Typhoon Frank (Fengshen) (2008)
- Severe Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) (2009)
- Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) (2009)
- Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) (2013)
- Typhoon Lando (Koppu) (2015)
- Typhoon Nona (Melor) (2015)
– Rappler.com