Harlequin Presents Readers discussion

I have to admit that the name of the H in most cases attracts me and will decide if I read a book or not. Not so much the h's name - hate Polly though - but definitely the H. Can't stand names like John, Michael, George (ugh!).

The names have changed a lot from the old books - names change by decade I've read on baby name websites. Whatever is "in" at that moment.

Any preferences?

Aruana

The only name I've ever come across in an HP that probably affected my ability to read it was Prince Gerd Crysander-Gillan in The Disgraced Princess: The Weight of the Crown. Seriously -- the hero's name was Gerd! As in the acronym for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Ick!

I have an issue when both the hero and heroine have unisex names because I forget which is the female and which is the male. (Yeah, I have really bad reading comprehension skills!)

Kate said:

I have an issue when both the hero and heroine have unisex names because I forget which is the female and which is the male

Lol! I haven't thought of it that way! I don't usually read Karen van Zee and probably never will. Here names are terrible.

Aruana

Kate wrote: "Serious -- the hero's name was Gerd! As in the acronym for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Ick!"

**giggles** or **gags**

Maybe Yvonne Whittal ? I have a few of her books.

Thanks, Rebecca! That's her! I just read her bio.

Aruana

Okay, two names I cannot stand is Guido - just had one of those - and Luigi. I always think of pizza or spaghetti when I hear those names.

Kouk, I am Afrikaans, which is derived from Dutch - I'm from South Africa. I had Dutch at school and I understand and can read it and understand it, but not speak it.

Aruana wrote: "Kouk, I am Afrikaans, which is derived from Dutch - I'm from South Africa. I had Dutch at school and I understand and can read it and understand it, but not speak it."


That's interesting that you can read and understand it!
The language is a bit difficult to speak.

My message above is gone, because i tried to edit it, apparently i pressed the wrong button.
Sorry about that!

Kouk, ek woon in Kaapstad. Ek is 44 jaar oud en werk vir 'n groot IT maatskappy. Ek is mal oor lees en lees al vir jare Mills & Boon. Dit is my gunsteling boeke om te lees.

Dutch are not difficult to learn if your native language is English or German, they have the same root (German).
I'm Greek and when I read in a synopsis the greek names of the heroes I'm like: "Oh, God!", because the names are very... weird. Some of them I never heard in my life!

Grrrr-inducing pet peeves across romancelandia : Poppy, Pippa, Bud, Xhex, Natchez, Rowdy, Dawg, Mario, Luigi, Bob, Garnet, Sholto, Tully, any tongue twisting names evah invented by over-imaginative author wannabes.

One of my favourites is St John or just plain Sin!

Haha, I was thinking of Sholto too.

The South African actor Sharlto Copley stars in the movie District 9.

Just thought I'd through that in ....

Well @ least it ain't Humperdinck, or Gawd 4bid, Qing Dong.

@Verity : lol!

Zephyr! Nooooo! I'm only reminded of the car going by that name. Freakin' hell!

To me, Zephyr is a minor league baseball team from New Orleans.

I have a soft spot for heroes with names: Ethan, Ian, Simon, Ivan, Burke, Austin, Gideon. They aren't as strong as Jack, Rafe or Gabriel, but they suit perfectly the type of hero I like.

For the heroines I prefer old fashioned names like Emma, Margaret, Sara or Katherine. Not a fan of unusual names, for example, Jacinda, Jesmond, Delaney...

Kate wrote: "To me, Zephyr is a minor league baseball team from New Orleans."

I think Lucy Monroe wanted to name Zephyr Nikos after the Greek god of the west wind :) To me "zephyr" is a very common sweet (similar to marshmallow) in Latvia & Russia.

I love the name Alessandro !!!!!!

I hate some of the latin names they use. I specially remember "Ruiz" (which in my country is a last name), I've never heard of anyone named Ruiz :s

I still find 'Carne' in Sara Craven's Summer of the Raven a disturbing hero name.

I sort of assume it's pronounced Khan, which means I then can't get the Star Trek reference out of my brain. And if it's not, do you pronounce the e and he's a carnie?

And Craven must have known it's Spanish for meat. H = a piece of meat.

Dianna wrote: "I still find 'Carne' in Sara Craven's Summer of the Raven a disturbing hero name.

I sort of assume it's pronounced Khan, which means I then can't get the Star Trek reference out of my brain. And ..."

I think she totally did know what it meant, and was doing some SC humor there. LOL

She's deep, is SC :)

Dianna wrote: "She's deep, is SC :)"

But now all I can see when I pick that book up is Ricardo Montalban with his mullet and manly bare chest framed by synthetic leather.

Oh dear! However is Carne going to open the local fete dressed like that?

You're welcome!

I think his wife would have something to say about it. Like 'if make your friend the pottery guy feel inadequate we lose a baby sitter and therefore no date night.'

Being Italian I suffer a lot when the author decides to use Italian names because they are always totally wrong!!!! Those names don't exist here so... I suffer :( BTW Carne is Italian, it means literally meat ahahahahah incredible! I'm glad I never read that book, I'm sure I couldn't read it that name!

I wonder if it was translated into Italian what name they used?

I haven't come across it in HP yet but one hero name that seems to be everywhere at the moment is Jax.

Re Jax - every time I hear that name I can't help thinking of Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon and I start looking around for Ruth.

Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) wrote: "Haha, I was thinking of Sholto too."

Love Sholto.

Sholto is H from one of Daphne Clair's books I think. I can't imagine a Sholto H. DC seems fond of the name Mark and variant Marcus. Several books of hers have heroes by that name.

Ted wrote: "Sholto is H from one of Daphne Clair's books I think. I can't imagine a Sholto H. DC seems fond of the name Mark and variant Marcus. Several books of hers have heroes by that name."

I think Charlotte Lamb has a Sholto. It's Scottish/Gaelic depending on who translates it.

https://nameberry.com/babyname/Sholto