Dolly Parton and the Names We Give Things

The next Atlantic tropical storm named Dolly will not be a tribute to Dolly Parton, scientists have insisted. The clarification reflects the singer’s reach, the columnist suggests, after officials felt obliged to separate a routine storm name from the death of a major cultural figure.

By order of President Trump, flags at U.S. federal buildings, military bases, Navy ships and embassies are due to return to full staff on Tuesday evening. They had flown at half-staff for eight days following Parton’s death.

The World Meteorological Organization explained that storm names are set well in advance. The season has already used Arthur, Bertha and Cristobal, and Dolly is next on the list. No storm had formed under that name when the column was written, but officials wanted to prevent any suggestion of a memorial connection.

The name Dolly has already carried another association with the singer. In 1996, researchers at Scotland’s Roslin Institute named the first cloned sheep Dolly in her honor after a joke by one of the project’s farmers was repeated in comments by the scientific team’s director.

The columnist then scans the remaining names, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna and Isaias, jokingly presenting them as if they might warrant a medical checkup. The piece treats the coincidence as an example of how public figures can lend their names to science, weather and everyday language.