Today Scotland got away from the practice of giving hurricanes boring names with their title for the 100 mph monster that has just swept across the country : Hurricane Bawbag.

Exactly who thought up the name was not known. And not everyone (at first) knew what Bawbag meant: Your scrotum , the place you keep your balls.

But the title was cheerily adopted by at least one council and STV. Twitter users across the globe made the “Hurricane Bawbag” term viral as the winds blasted through the central belt. The name did not appear on the BBC website. The Herald and Scotsman ignored it but the Daily Record gave it a whirl.

The term featured at the top of the world-wide trends list for several hours, reported the Edinburgh website Deadline News.

User Pazpaz was among thousands of Twitter users employing the hashtag #HurricaneBawbag.

He wrote: “American hurricane namers are lazy. They pick easy ones like “George” and “Kate”. Only in Scotland could they come up with #HurricaneBawbag.”

“It Makes Me Happy When the Scots get worldwide recognition for something other than bagpipes and haggis. Let’s hear it for #HurricaneBawbag”

Bernieleslie asked: “Can we not send #hurricanebawbag homeward tae think again?”

Meanwhile, Stirling council wrote on their feed, “All Libraries are closing up at 1 o’clock – Stirling Council Website for details http://my.stirling.gov.uk/disruptions #scotstorm #HurricaneBawbag”

Deadline News spelled it out: For those unfamiliar with the term, it is an indelicate reference to part of the male anatomy, as well as a derogative term meaning idiot.

One firm marketed “Hurricane Bawbag” T-shirts with the tagline “a load of old wind”. They were being sold for £14 on the Get aroundGlasgow website within hours of the winds striking.

Update: At 5p.m. #bawbag was reported to be trending in the UK rather than #hurricanebawbag, “dispensing with formalities and getting straight to the nitty gritty.”

Hurricane Bawbag had also acquired its own Twitter and Facebook pages.

On Wikipedia the report read, “Hurricane Bawbag was described as a stormy day in Scotland on the 8th December 2011. Winds reached over 100mph and many schools and nurseries were closed. Within hours of the severe weather warning ‘Hurricane Bawbag’ merchandise became available online.

“It also sparked Twitter Trending topic which became the most popular in Britain. Local Authorities and National Weather Stations also used the term.”