Back then they even named droughts. It's a pity we've lost that. Don Brash was the perfect candidate to have a drought named after him. He was certainly dry enough and was also somewhere on the spectrum between politician and mythological creature.
But storms got the naming rights in the 20th century.
During World War II, United States bomber crews in the Pacific started naming cyclones after wives and girlfriends (presumably ex).
Apparently there was a perceived commonality - causing distress and destruction combined with erratic behaviour.
This vein of meteorological misogyny continued in the 1950s, albeit with a standardised system of alternating female names through the alphabet.
During the 1970s a protest campaign by women's groups resulted in gender equality being introduced at the highest level by the World Meteorological Organisation. So from about 1979 it alternated male and female names. One US activist took it further, arguing that as "hurricane" was often pronounced "her-icane", in the interest of gender equality it should be alternated with "him-icane".
There were also efforts in the United States to ensure racial equality in the storm-naming regime on the basis that minority names were under-represented.
That seems like a bit of a storm in a Tito cup.
In our neck of the woods, most cyclones are named by the Australians or Fijians, hence Cyclone Yasi from Fiji.
The Fijians will be starting their pre-prepared alphabet list again soon but it's hard to believe that cyclone Cyril will be very destructive.
There's no sign yet of Commodore Frank Bainimarama's influence in this area, because no doubt he would want to name every big wet McCully.
Following the organisation's protocols there are policies on avoiding cyclone names with political overtones or people who have been in the news.
That seems to be a lost opportunity for finding the most appropriate name for a cyclone's given attributes.
The perfect storm as it were.
Here are some Kiwi-themed cyclones to get the campaign started.
Cyclone Sonny Bill: Blows in many different directions at once but likely to make landfall back in Australia.
Cyclone Judith: Threatens to crush everything in its path but blows hot and cold.
Cyclone Kimbra: Taking America by storm.
Cyclone Winston: A real blowhard, but damage almost always self-inflicted.