When did we start naming winter storms?

In November 2012, TWC began systematically naming winter storms, starting with the November 2012 nor'easter it named "Winter Storm Athena."TWC compiled a list of winter storm names for the 2012–13 winter season. It would only name those storms that are "disruptive" to people, said Bryan Norcross, a TWC senior director. TWC's decision was met with criticism from other weather forecasters, who called the practice self-serving and potentially confusing to the public. Naming though has been used by The Weather Channel (TWC) since 2011, when the cable network informally used the previously-coined name "Snowtober" for a 2011 Halloween nor'easter.

A few of the winter storm names used by March 2013 include Athena, Brutus, Caesar, Gandolf, Khan, and Nemo. For the 2013-2014 season, The Weather Channel published a list of 26 more names to be used for winter storms, with the name Atlas as the first name of the season. On October 2, 2014, The Weather Channel released 25 new names with the 26th "W" to be voted on by viewers. Since then, various names have been chosen by the weather channel for each subsequent winter season

In other words, they just use it for ratings.
The NWS does not name winter storms.