Wipha was the latest typhoon to batter Vietnam this year, sweeping through northern provinces like Hưng Yên, Ninh Bình, Nghệ An, and Thanh Hóa and causing dangerous floods. It was 2025’s third and probably will not be the last that Vietnam will have to endure this year.
Its name is a female name in Thai, suggested by Thailand in a pool of many others that nations in the region put together. But how are these names selected?
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has been the Western North Pacific region’s official warning agency since 1981, though there are other tracking bodies. In 2000, JMA started naming tropical storms from a list of 140 submissions by 14 countries and territories in the region, switching from a previous system that only used numbers.
The 14 members include Cambodia, China, Hongkong, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Micronesia, the Philippines, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.
The names selected come from diverse cultural and national roots, but generally follow similar themes such as species of local fauna and flora, food, famous geographical landmarks, and even folk deities. A complete list of approved names and their meanings as of 2025 can be found here.
The 10 names that originated from Vietnam in the current list are Trami (camellia), Halong (Hạ Long Bay), Bang-Lang (jacaranda), Songda (Đà River), Saobien (starfish), Son-Tinh (Sơn Tinh), Co-may (lesser spear grass), Bavi (Ba Vì), Luc-binh (water hyacinth), and Sonca (Oriental skylark).
Every year, member countries can request for name changes or replacements based on various reasons, such as easier mispronounced names, controversial spelling or meaning. The most common justification behind replacements, however, is due to the scale of destruction of past typhoons with the same name. For instance, Saola — after the endangered species of bovid — was retired as Typhoon Saola was particularly catastrophic when it hit Hongkong and the Philippines in 2023.
Top image via Denison Forum.
