Met Office names: How do you pronounce Storm Eowyn? Also how to say Floris, Gerben, Naoise and Otje

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This season’s list of storm names has been released by the Met Office - and includes some which may be unfamiliar.

Since 2015 The Met Office has worked with Met Eireann, its Irish equivalent, and KNMI - its counterpart in Holland - to compile the list, which is aimed at giving distinct identities to storms, and thus making the public more easily aware of incoming bad or dangerous weather.

The storm “year” starts in September, and runs to the end of August. The last 12 months is the first storm period that has seen named storms reach the letter L, as Lilian swept in a week ago. But as of next week, turbulent weather will start again at the beginning of the alphabet as we await - although not eagerly - whenever Storm Ashley makes landfall.

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The full list of storms for the next 12 months is: Ashley, Bert, Conall, Darragh, Eowyn, Floris, Gerben, Hugo, Izzy, James, Kayleigh, Lewis, Mavis, Naoise, Otje, Poppy, Rafi, Sayuri, Tilly, Vivienne and Wren.

And here’s how to pronounce the more unusual - to English ears, at least - names. Here are the two that we have had so far.

Conall

A fairly easy one to start with. It’s pronounced ‘Kun-all’ and is an Irish name meaning friendship. Conall Cearnach is a hero in Irish Legend.

Darragh

Pronounced ‘Dar-rah’, with the stress on the first syllable and a hard a (like in bat, not in car) on the second. It means “oak tree”, or wealthy in some derivations.

And here are the names for the rest of the storm season

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Eowyn

This is either an Anglo-Saxon (meaning “friend of horses”) or Welsh (meaning “God is gracious”) name - there’s some dispute over its origin, or perhaps it arose independently. But it’s not just a different way of spelling Owen, it is pronounced ‘A-o-win’. It’s a girls’ name - and there is a famous Lord of the Rings character with the name. Some people maintain that JRR Tolkien invented the name, but this is not true.

Floris

This is a Dutch boys’ name and means “flowering” or “flourishing”. It’s pronounced as it looks in English - the O sound is hard like in “knock”, not long as in “floor”.

Gerben

Another Dutch boy’s name, that translates as “Spear Bear”. Don’t say it as if it’s a similar word to “garden”, instead the Dutch pronunciation is akin to ‘Hair-bun’. This could lead to rivalry with the H on the list, but so be it. We can cope with saying Hugo, anyway.

Naoise

Indeed, H to M are all eminently doable for English speakers, although Mavis has fallen from fashion as a girls’ name (for those who have never heard it aloud, you say ‘May-vis’). The next name to throw a curveball is Naoise - but rest assured, you uninitiated, as it’s easier than it looks. This is an Irish girls’ name, meaning “bright” or “radiant”, although over history has often been a masculine name, after a mythical warrior. Say it ‘Neesh-a’.

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Otje

Another Dutch girls’ name. ‘Ottia’, or ‘Ot-tee-ya’ with the stress on the first syllable is a close approximation of how to say it.

Sayuri

Has the name Sayuri been chosen because the singer and actress Sayuri Matsumura has a part in a Japanese television drama called My Personal Weatherman, an adaptation of a manga strip? At time of writing we await details from the Met Office. In any case, you say ‘sa-yoo-ri’.

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