The infant, who was born precisely one month ago, will now join the club of kids with names derived from cyclones, just like her older friends from the eastern coast, who go by the names Titli, Fani, and Gulab.

biparjoy - baby






Jakhau (Gujarat): Following the peculiar trend of giving children names related to natural disasters, a woman in Gujarat has chosen to name her one-month-old daughter 'Biparjoy' after the approaching cyclone on the western coast. Currently residing in a shelter house in Jakhau, Kutch district, the family is among the thousands who have been evacuated to safer locations in preparation for the cyclone's landfall.


This newborn will now join a group of children who have been named after cyclones, with her older acquaintances from the eastern coast being called Titli, Fani, and Gulab, all named after cyclones.


However, the child may not find the name amusing upon discovering that it literally means disaster. The name was designated by Bangladesh and adopted by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) countries in 2020.


The WMO has established guidelines for naming cyclones in each tropical cyclone basin. According to their website, tropical cyclones can persist for a week or more, which means multiple cyclones can occur simultaneously. "Weather forecasters assign a name to each tropical cyclone to avoid confusion," states the WMO website.


"The nations in the Northern Indian Ocean began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones in 2000. The names are listed alphabetically by country and are gender-neutral. The general rule is that the name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members in a specific region and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/biennial sessions," the website further explains.


"The tradition of naming tropical cyclones started years ago to aid in the swift identification of storms in warning messages, as names are assumed to be much easier to remember than numbers and technical terms. Many believe that attaching names to storms facilitates media reporting, increases public interest in warnings, and enhances community preparedness," states the WMO.


India has not limited itself to natural calamities when it comes to giving peculiar event-driven names. During the Covid pandemic, a newborn in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, was named Corona. She was not alone, as two other children in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, were also named after the virus. In some cases, families justified naming their newborns after the virus due to its unifying effect on the world's fight against the pandemic.


Some individuals took it a step further. A couple from Rajasthan, who were stranded in Tripura, decided to name their baby boy "Lockdown" after the restrictions imposed by the government to curb the spread of Covid. Baby "Lockdown" also shares his name with another child born on a train while his parents were traveling from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh.