“Bridgertons over troubled Waters III”

Debbie’s sister Jacqueline is not a reflection of my sister Julia Quinn. And yes, I am very well aware of how much the two names sound alike if you say them quickly, but I assure you it is just a regrettable coincidence.

I named my characters way back in 2010 and wanted all the Waters girls to have names with diminutives that end in an ee sound. Deborah/Debbie, Madeline/Maddie, Roxanne/Roxie, Jacqueline/Jaqui Jackie.

Jaqui has been changed to Jackie to avoid further confusion.

I suppose I could have gone with Rebecca/Becky or Jennifer/Jenny, or…um…Wilhelmina/Billie? <- please don’t name your daughters Wilhelmina if you can help it.

………

Why do I stress this point?

Because Auntie Jaqui Jackie is a total snoot, and Julia is a total sweetie. And I want to make sure people know that. I plan to develop Auntie Jaqui’s Jackie’s character more in future comics (I have a whole backstory for her and everything), and I don’t want comparisons to be drawn. I suppose it’s not too late to change her name… but I do like the name Jacqueline. Maybe if I spell it with a G.

Guacqueline.

No. That sounds like a terrible food mash-up, spicy avocado cookie.

The problem begins when people wrongly assume Debbie is supposed to be based on me.

To summarize, Debbie is not Violet Charles and Auntie Jaqui Jackie is not Julia Quinn.

………

Now moving on to the comic.

Bridgertons over troubled Waters comics are wonderful fun for me. I was particularly fond of designing Kate because I have a particular fondness for both her character and the book, The Viscount Who Loved Me, which is why I chose that to be the book Mint has autographed in my first Bridgertons over troubled Waters comic. The scene in this comic is a fan favorite because of how funny it is. Seeing something visually after reading it is always a treat. I hope fans will feel justice has been done to Kate in my character design. 

………

Anthony was considerably more difficult to design.

He is the first son of the mighty Bridgerton family, and in this scene he needed to be devilishly handsome, but capable of tenderness, and intimidating, but not genuinely threatening. Oh, it would also seem to be a good place to point out that Violet Bridgerton is not named after me. Violet is just a great name. People put too much weight on names anyway. How often have you heard this conversation…

Mom-to-be: If the baby’s a girl, let’s name her Sunday.

Dad-to-be: Is that Sunday with a D-A-Y or Sundae with D-A-E?

Mom-to-be: Who names their kid Sundae with a D-A-E?

Dad-to-be: People who want to annoy other people.

Mom-to-be: Fine. Nevermind. I knew a brat at camp named Sunday anyway.

Dad-to-be: How about Tamara?

Mom-to-be: Didn’t your cousin almost marry a Tamara?

Dad-to-be: Oooooh right.

Mom-to-be: Jessica?

Dad-to-be: Creepy lady on the corner with the cactus garden. 

Mom-to-be: Vivian?

Dad-to-be: My grandmother

Mom-to-be: Gwen?

Dad-to-be: Only if we can name our son Owen so their names look almost identical. And Gwen’s middle name will be Jen, and Owen’s middle name will be Rowan.

Mom-to-be: Why did I marry you again? 

………

So, let’s just agree…

That none of the names of any of anyone’s characters mean anything about anyone in their real lives. I mean, what’s in a name? A rose, er Violet by any other name would still, blah blah blah.