What's in a name? Well, it can be the the cyclonic storm Nilam which is threatening to cause havoc across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts.

Incidentally, this cyclonic storm has been christened as Nilam by Pakistan as per the cyclone naming procedure. The practice of naming tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea started in September 2004.

The department received a list of names from eight nations -- Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand and Sri Lanka -- which are World Meteorological Organisation panel members.

The practice helped in easy identification of the cyclones.

However, it was decided that they would not be named after any person.

Of the 64 names in the list, about 30 have been used for unique identification for forecast.

Earlier, only countries like US and Japan had the practice of referring hurricanes and typhoons by names.

The met office used to refer the systems by the region that it crossed such as 'Pamban' cyclone. The names suggested must be short and should not have any provocative meaning, officials said.