Tiana is certainly not a typical fairy tale princess. She is a young afro-american woman Her dreams are not about far-away kingdoms or cloud castles, but their personal success: an own restaurant.

Unlike most Disney female characters, she is very strong and is willing to learn the hard lessons of life in order to "make her dreams come true".

The character was originally named "Maddy", but her name was changed as well as the movie title (which was to be named "The Frog Princess", just like the russian tale, when big story changes occured.