EXPLAINER: Cyclone Murasu got its name years before the storm formed. No forecaster picked the name for this storm. It came from a fixed list, in a fixed order, and Murasu was simply next in line after Arnab.
Updated: 2 November 2026, 10:00 IST
Quick Read
- North Indian Ocean cyclone names come from a 169-name list shared by 13 countries.
- India suggested Murasu; Bangladesh suggested Arnab, the storm before it.
- A storm gets a name only when its winds reach about 62 km an hour.
Why storms need names at all
A cyclone is a huge spinning storm over the sea. It can last a week or more. Two storms can spin in the same sea at the same time. Numbers are easy to mix up. Names are easy to remember. That’s why weather offices name storms. A short, clear name helps warnings travel fast — on TV, on radio, on phones, and from village to village. When people hear one name again and again, they know which storm the warning is about. They don’t confuse it with last week’s storm. Naming in this region started in September 2004. Before that, storms here had no names from this system. The change came from a group called the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones. WMO means the World Meteorological Organisation, the UN’s weather agency. ESCAP is the UN’s economic and social body for Asia and the Pacific.
Also read: Cyclone Arnab aftermath
Who makes the list
Thirteen countries share one list for the North Indian Ocean. That ocean area covers two seas: the Bay of Bengal, on India’s east side, and the Arabian Sea, on India’s west side. One list serves both seas. A storm in either sea takes the next name on the same list. The 13 countries are Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Each country gave 13 names. Thirteen times 13 makes 169 names. The Panel adopted this list in April 2020. India’s 13 names are Gati, Tej, Murasu, Aag, Vyom, Jhar, Probaho, Neer, Prabhanjan, Ghurni, Ambud, Jaladhi and Vega. The Hindu reported in 2020 that India’s regional weather offices suggested names, and suggestions from the public were included too. The rules for a name are strict. It must be short — no more than eight letters. It must be easy to say. It must not hurt any group. It must stay neutral on politics, political leaders, religion, culture and gender. It must not be rude or cruel. Each country also gives how to say its name, so announcers don’t garble it on air.
How the order works
Think of the list as columns, not as one long line. Countries sit in the same alphabetical order in every column, from Bangladesh first to Yemen last. Forecasters work down one column, top to bottom. At the bottom, they move to the top of the next column. That’s the whole secret of why Murasu follows Arnab. In the current column, Bangladesh’s name, Arnab, sits first. India’s name, Murasu, sits second. Iran’s name, Akvan, sits third. So when Arnab was used in October 2026, Murasu was next in line. It did not matter where the new storm formed, or where it was heading. The order, not the storm’s path, picks the name. Arnab, suggested by Bangladesh, means ocean or sea in Bengali. The India Meteorological Department, or IMD, says it out as “Ornab”. Arnab made landfall in Andhra Pradesh on October 28, 2026, according to Open magazine’s November 1 explainer. The next storm in line took India’s name.
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What Murasu means
Murasu is a Tamil word for a drum — an old percussion instrument. A percussion instrument is one you hit to make sound, like a drum. The Hindu reported that Murasu was the first Tamil name since naming began here in 2004. S. Balachandran, then a deputy director general of IMD in Chennai, explained the choice in 2020. He said the drum was used in ancient times to spread news to people, and even to warn people about natural disasters. Villages heard the drum and knew something important had happened. That’s a fitting name for a storm warning system: a name that once carried warnings now warns again. A note: the brief for this post described Murasu as a “war drum”. The sources found on November 1 and 2 describe it as a drum used to spread news and warn of disasters. We did not find a source in these searches calling it specifically a war drum, so this post says “drum”, not “war drum”. The meaning — a drum that carried public warnings — is confirmed. The “war” part is not. The IMD’s November 1 bulletin said the Bay of Bengal system became a cyclonic storm on November 1, and so it took the name Murasu. A depression, a weaker spinning system, does not get a name. The system earns its name only when its top steady winds reach at least 34 knots, about 62 km an hour. That’s cyclonic-storm strength. Once named, the storm keeps that name even if it gets stronger or weaker later. A stronger Murasu would still be Murasu.
What happens to a name after it’s used
Here’s where sources disagree, and you deserve to see the gap. The Indian Express, reporting the IMD’s 2020 list, states the North Indian Ocean rule plainly: names will not be repeated. Once used, a name stops being used again. Two recent explainers of Cyclone Arnab repeat the same rule: unlike the Atlantic system, where names repeat every few years, the North Indian Ocean system never reuses a name. Once used, IMD strikes it from the list for good. But another explainer, Informopedia, describes a different rule. It says a name returns to the cycle if the storm’s damage was limited, and is retired — dropped for good — only if the storm was so deadly that reusing it would cause distress. It cites Katrina in 2005, Sandy in 2012 and Haiyan in 2013 as retired names. Those are Atlantic and Pacific storms, not North Indian Ocean storms. So which is right for Arnab and Murasu? The IMD-list rule, as reported by the Indian Express, is the primary source here: no repeats, full stop. Under that rule, there is no separate “retirement” step for this region, because every used name is already finished. The Informopedia version mixes the Atlantic retirement idea into this region’s system. We’ve flagged it rather than picking the version that sounds simpler. In the Atlantic, retirement works like this: after each season, weather bodies meet and strike out names tied to huge death and damage, so no future storm carries a name linked to a disaster. The country that suggested the name then offers a replacement. That’s a real system — just not the system the IMD list describes for our region. Added context — our own desk table, compiled from the sources above, shows the queue around Murasu so you can see what comes next. Column position 1, Bangladesh: Arnab, used October 2026. Position 2, India: Murasu, next, named November 1, 2026. Position 3, Iran: Akvan, the name after Murasu if the next storm qualifies. Position 4, Maldives: Kaani, after Akvan. Position 5 onward in that column, per the Transclew table of October 31, includes Oman’s Sail further down. When the list runs out, the Panel must agree a fresh list — the 169 names are not endless.
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FAQ
Q: Who named Cyclone Murasu? A: Nobody named it for this storm. India suggested the word Murasu for the shared 169-name list in 2020, and it was simply next in line after Bangladesh’s Arnab.
Q: What does Murasu mean? A: It’s a Tamil word for an old drum used to spread news and warn people, including about natural disasters.
Q: Will the name Murasu be used again? A: Under the IMD list rule reported by the Indian Express, no — North Indian Ocean names are not repeated once used. One explainer claims limited-damage names return to the cycle, but that conflicts with the IMD rule, and we’ve flagged the conflict above.
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