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They started naming them for simplicity of plotting and because people seem to pay attention when they are named. They used to name them by where they did damage, but then you may have had one storm with multiple names and they would have had no idea it was the same storm.
In the 30's or 40's the started being able to track them and decided to name them. The first batch of named hurricanes were named with the military alphabet. (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, etc).
Then they did all female names alphabetically.
Then they changed to alternating male and female names alphabetically. They have six or seven lists that they run through each year. This year happens to be the same list from the year Katrina hit. When a storm is particularly deadly or costly they retire names.
Like the year Katrina hit, if they run through all the names on a list for a certian year, they go to the Greek alphabet.
....weather nerd
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