Hurricane names are retired by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a meeting in March or April of each year. Those hurricanes that have their names retired tend to be exceptionally destructive storms that often become household names in the regions they affected. Storm names are retired following a request made at the WMO meeting by one or more of the countries affected by a hurricane. Nine tropical cyclone names have been retired since the start of tropical cyclone naming in the eastern Pacific Ocean, including four storms named by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center.