The Tempest is named after the big storm that dominates the entire first scene of the play. The rest of the play takes place on an island, so maybe the play should really be called The Island, right? Wrong.
Shakespeare, as usual, draws our attention to not just the word, but the thing behind the word. The whole play can be thought of as the result of big storms—both personal and public, both real and imagined. We talk about the symbolic meaning of the tempest in "Symbols," so check it out if you want to know more...