# Who names the Covid variants and why do they skip around the Greek alphabet? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [December 12, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941 "2021-12-12T17:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/1 "2021-12-12T17:03:38Z")
The title asks it all. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/2 "2021-12-12T17:11:14Z")
The W.H.O., and principally because using Greek letters seemed to be a way to avoid prejudice and stigma that derives from _ad hoc_ naming - which had often named variants after the geographical locations where they were first identified. [https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01508-8](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01508-8) As for the apparent skipping around - I think it’s just that only certain named variants have turned out to be significant. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/3 "2021-12-12T17:24:51Z")
Nu and Xi were skipped on purpose, one because it’s too easily confused with “new” and the other because that’s the name of the Chinese premier. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/4 "2021-12-12T17:28:55Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > The title asks it all. > **Who names the Covid variants…** Yes, that’s right 😄 The TAG-VE (or whatever they are calling themselves this week) only names certain “variants of interest”, to be specific. It was supposed to be some sort of mass PR thing for, how did they put it, “non-scientific audiences”. ETA why Greek letters? This was discussed in an earlier thread. Basically, they went with that after rejecting proposals like “One, Two, Three, …” and Greek gods. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/5 "2021-12-12T17:44:48Z")
Anyway, at least we can now place the blame for all this COVID business squarely where it belongs - with the Greeks. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/6 "2021-12-12T18:31:18Z")
_finally_, i know who to hate. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/7 "2021-12-13T02:44:17Z")
Not because it’s the name of the Chinese president, but rather because it’s an incredibly common surname. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/8 "2021-12-13T02:57:52Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > it’s an incredibly common surname It’s a rather uncommon surname, in fact. There are several Xi homophones, none are in the top 100 surnames, and the common surnames are held by a much greater proportion of the Chinese population than the common surnames in Western cultures. [List of common Chinese surnames - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames) But with a billion people, of course even an uncommon surname still means a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/9 "2021-12-13T03:08:08Z")
I also point out that people don’t agree on how to say “xi”. Sure, other letters may have variations across the pond (e.g. beeta versus bayta), but only “xi” seems to be said differently by everyone. I’ve heard “sigh,” “zigh,” “ksai” “ksee.” And that’s without getting into how other the last name Xi is pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/10 "2021-12-13T05:25:35Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It’s a rather uncommon surname, in fact. And Jenkins might not be an extremely common Anglophone surname, but if WHO announced they were now tracking “the Jenkins variant”, it’d probably make some people pretty upset. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/11 "2021-12-13T20:20:40Z")
The upside is that we’re more than half the way through the Greek alphabet so there can’t be many more Covid variants. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-names-the-covid-variants-and-why-do-they-skip-around-the-greek-alphabet/955941/12 "2021-12-16T03:32:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > if WHO announced they were now tracking “the Jenkins variant”, it’d probably make some people pretty upset This. Take it from a Karen.