The popular theory that the main characters of Friends were named after those in the soap opera All My Children has already been debunked. Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane named their characters after people they knew in real life, which was confirmed during the show's reunion episode.

However, there are some coincidences and similarities between the characters of both shows, leading some to believe in the theory. Friends does have a fun connection to All My Children as Gunther, the Central Perk manager, once revealed that he played a character named Bryce in the soap opera before getting buried in an avalanche.