Typhoons in East Asia are to get local names in an attempt to make people take more notice of them.

The names being rejected are those like Dan, Frankie and Zeb - previously used names for typhoons in the area.

But they are now considered too English sounding and this year weather watchers will be using Damrey, Longwang and Kirogi.

Names such as Damrey and Usagi may prove no less dangerous than Ted and Gloria but it is hoped they will heighten people's awareness so they can get ready before storms reach them.

A new internationally-approved list of names has been drawn up for this season's major storms.

The World Meteorological Association and a committee of UN experts have come up with contributions from 14 countries in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific.

Animal names

The first storm of the season will be named Damrey, which means elephant in Cambodian.

It will be followed by Longwang, the Chinese Dragon King, and Kirogi which is named after a North Korean breed of wild goose.

Other names come from Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Micronesia, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.

Ann and Babs out

It means an end to US control over typhoon naming, which was previously the job of the US Army and Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre in Guam.

Their list, ranging from Ann and Babs to Yates and Zeb, was similar to names used for Atlantic hurricanes.

Cyclones in the central Pacific are given Hawaiian names.