It's more complicated than that, and mostly has to do with what people in a given region usually call them. Storms in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific (headed for North America or Europe) are hurricanes, storms in the west Pacific and east Indian Ocean (headed for east/southeast Asia) are typhoons, and storms in the south Pacific and west Indian Ocean (headed for Australia, the Middle East, or east Africa) are called cyclones.

What you are referring to are tropical cyclones. They are called typhoons in the Pacific Ocean in the northern hemisphere, and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. They also have other names in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere, like tropical cyclone in Australia.

Though what you see impacting California is an extratropical cyclone. Extratropical refers to how they usually form outside the tropics in the extratropical regions of earth. They are very common but can range wildly in intensity.