Why Is It Called Cyclone Chido?

Cyclone Chido is brewing in the western Indian Ocean off of southeastern Africa. Besides it’s devastation, people in Zim are wondering why it’s called Chido, which means desire in Shona typically used for girls.

According to the World Meteorological Organization:

[The regional] bodies establish pre-designated lists of names which are proposed by WMO Members’ National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. The selection of names is based on their familiarity to the people in each region, aiming to aid in the understanding and remembrance of cyclones. The naming procedures can vary, with some regions using alphabetical order and others using the alphabetical order of country names. It is important to note that tropical cyclones are not named after individuals.

When selecting a new name, consideration is given to certain factors:

• Short in character length for ease of use in communication
• Easy to pronounce
• Appropriate significance in different languages
• Uniqueness – same names cannot be used in other regions.

When it comes to the Southwest Indian Ocean (basically southwestern Africa), the various member countries propose distinct local names that are placed in alphabetical order within each cyclonic season. Once a cyclone hits, we go down the alphabetical list and pick the name the member country chose. This year we’ve had:

1. Cyclone Ancha, named by the Seychelles and I’m not sure what it means though it’s a girl’s name. And
2. Cyclone Bheki, named by eSwatini meaning “trusted one” or “caretaker”, a boy’s name.

Since this is the third storm this year we get Cyclone Chido. If there’s another cyclone, it’ll then be Dikeledi named by South Africa meaning tears, a girl’s name and so on…

As for the name Chido in particular, I don’t know. The only other options I can think of are Chipo and Chiedza. There are other ones but they are far less common.

You can see all the possible names through to the end of the 2025‒26 Cyclone season on the Southwest Indian Ocean page I linked to.

Bonus Content: When Is It Called a Cyclone, Typhon, Tsunami or Monsoon?

They’re generally called “tropical cyclones”. If it happens in the Atlantic Ocean, it’s called a “hurricaine”. If it’s in the Indian or South Pacific, it’s called a “tropical cyclone”.

Unlike tropical storms, a tsunami has nothing to do with changes in atmospheric weather conditions but rather a distruption underwater like an earthquake or an underground volcano eruption.

As for a monsoon, that has to do with the changing wind direction that changes precipitation which occurs when seasons change. Most people use it to mean “lot’s of rain”

Thanks for listening to my shitty explaination. I hope you found it helpful.

Bonus Bounus Content: Why Is France Here?

I had already finished writing this post and scheduled it but then I noticed that there are names from France which isn’t off the western coast of Africa, except it is—Réunion to be specific. I’ve discussed this before but France is huge!