Correct way to pronounce Storm Eowyn as UK is battered by 114mph gusts
The storm has dominated conversation and headlines since it was named this week and weather warnings have been gradually been raised to red, the maximum in some areas
The storm has dominated conversation and headlines since it was named this week and weather warnings have been gradually been raised to red, the maximum in some areasFerocious winds are expected across the UK (
Image: George Cracknell Wright)
Brits are being battered by historic wind speeds - and Brits are struggling to pronounce Storm Eowyn's name as it brings 'danger to life' conditions to the UK.
The storm has dominated conversation and headlines since it was named this week and warnings have been gradually been raised to even in red, the maximum in some areas. A wind speed of 114mph brought by the storm has been recorded in Ireland, the fastest since records began.
In Ireland the obvious temptation is to call it Eoin or Owen. That's what people are familiar with and that's how many are pronouncing it across the UK. But in actual fact the name comes from Old English and isn't Irish in origin. And the correct pronunciation of Eowyn is starkly different. The correct way to say it is "ay-oh-win".
The names of storms which impact the UK are jointly compiled by the Met Office, Met Éireann (the Irish National Meteorological Service) and KNMI (The Dutch national weather forecasting service). These weather forecasters form the Western European storm naming group - there are other groups involving different weather forecasters for Northern and South Western Europe.
The weather warnings in place (
Image:
Met Office)
Each September, a new list of storm names are compiled for the upcoming storm season, which runs from September to late August every year. Storm names run in alphabetical order, however the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are never used to "maintain consistency for official storm naming in the North Atlantic", says the Met Office.
This means that only 21 letters in the alphabet (running from A to W), are chosen. In September 2024, the 2024/25 storm season name list was released. Although Storm Eowyn is the first named storm of 2025, it is the fifth named storm of the 2024/25 season.
Storm Eowyn heading over the UK
Explaining how storm names are chosen, the Met Office said: "We receive thousands of suggestions throughout the year from the public and this years list has been compiled from these public suggestions, plus suggestions from Met Éireann and KNMI, choosing some of the more popular names and names that reflect the diversity of the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands."
While the name Éowyn might have passed many by, it has a surprising connection to Birmingham. Éowyn is in fact a character in the Lord of the Rings, the fantasy novels written by JRR Tolkein, reported BirminghamLive.
Although Tolkein was born in South Africa, he spent a significant amount of his time in Birmingham and its believed areas of the city, and surround region, influenced his work and the places in the books. That includes Sarehole Mill, Perrott's Folly in Edgbaston, a park in West Bromwich and a certain tree over Cannock Chase. Eowyn, meanwhile, was a noblewoman of Rohan who described as a shieldmaiden. The next storm name after Éowyn is set to be Floris, followed by Gerben.