In October 2024, as Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a viral rumor claimed it had been renamed to "Hurricane Millicent." According to a set of viral screenshots, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) made the change in recognition of Transgender Awareness Month.
A post on X shared two screenshots, one purportedly from the WMO's webpage and the other apparently from CNN. The WMO article headline stated, "WMO Renames Hurricane Milton to Millicent in Recognition of Transgender Awareness Month." The CNN headline stated, "Same threat, different name: Floridians react to Hurricane 'Millicent'."
(X user @ratlimit)
The above screenshots were not real. Hurricane Milton had not been renamed, whether as listed on the WMO website, in references in the news media, or in references by the U.S. government. We also found no evidence the name had been changed in any way in honor of Transgender Awareness Month. As such, we rate this claim as fake.
The above post raised our suspicions because the two screenshots were not accompanied by links to any articles from the websites.
We searched for examples of the two headlines and "Hurricane Millicent" on Google and found nothing. The WMO website had no article claiming the above. On Oct. 9, 2024, WMO published an article with the headline, "Hurricane Milton threatens destruction in Florida." There were no other similar articles on their website about Hurricane Milton or "Millicent."
We also looked at CNN's coverage of the hurricane on Oct. 9, 2024, and found no article with such a headline.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also refers to the storms as "Hurricane Milton," with no reference to a name change anywhere on its website.
Finally, we should note October is not Transgender Awareness Month. According to LGBTQ+ rights organization GLAAD, Transgender Awareness Week takes place between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place on Nov. 20.
Around 3 million people lost power and at least five people had died as a result of Hurricane Milton, as of this writing. The hurricane was classified as a "dangerous Category 3" when it made landfall and caused widespread damage across the state.