Here are some of the most surprising things that make Friends the show that will always be there for you (when the rain starts to pour).

The characters were all named after characters from the soap opera All My Children.

Inspiration needs to come from somewhere, right? Chandler’s name comes from the All My Children’s Chandler family. Rachel Green, from Janet Green. It goes on. Other All My Children characters include Ross Chandler (really!), Monique (who would become Monica) Cortland, Joey Martin, and Phoebe Taylor Wallingford.

Friends almost wasn’t called Friends.

There were over 100 titles in the running, including Insomnia Cafe, Six of One, and Across the Hall. Friends was the shortened version of another frontrunner, Friends Like Us.

The fountain scene was absolutely miserable to film.

It was raining. It was 4 in the morning. The Friends cast was splashing around in a park in the cold — and supposed to look like they were having fun while doing so.

The credits didn’t take place in New York.

The credits were filmed in the Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank. The fountain was built in the 1930s, and was near some row houses. “This could be a park in the Village. You could buy that,” Kevin Bright, an executive producer for Friends, said.

The theme song was a team effort.

Creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane co-wrote the Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There For You,” which eventually hit number 1 on the U.S. top 40 and was an international hit

Ross was 29 years old for three seasons.

While other characters aged, Ross’ age remained static for 60 episodes. Ross also doesn’t seem to know his birthday. At one point, he says his birth month is October; another time, December.

Jennifer Aniston almost left Friends midway through the first season.

Aniston wanted to be on Friends — but she was already committed to another project. She filmed six episodes of a CBS sitcom called Muddling Through. She filmed Friends with the understanding that if Middling Through was picked up, then she would leave Friends.

There was supposed to be a seventh friend to attract an older audience

In his book Generation Friends, Saul Austerlitz reveals that NBC executives wanted showrunners Marta Kauffman and David Crane to add a seventh friend called Pat the Cop or Coffee Joe to attract a Boomer audience. But while writing, all Kauffman could think was how “terrible” Pat the Cop was.

Jennifer Aniston couldn’t style the Rachel haircut on her own.

The Rachel haircut ignited a movement. But Jennifer Aniston hated the haircut. According to Michael Canalé, the colorist who created the look with stylist Chris McMillan, it was her least favorite hairstyle. She didn’t know how to recreate the look.

The cast negotiated their historically high salaries as a unit.

The cast all earned the same amount in season 1, but come season 2, the salaries differed significantly.

Matthew Perry struggled with addiction throughout Friends.

Perry was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs while filming, often arriving to set with a terrible hangover. He was drinking a quart of vodka a day. In an interview with the BBC years later, Perry said he has forgotten three seasons of Friends entirely. Now, he’s outspoken about the recovery process.

Believe it or not, the central couple was supposed to be Joey and Monica.

“Initially we thought the big love interest was Joey-Monica. This is before we wrote the script, when we were just pitching the series,” Kauffman told NBC in 2004. Ross and Rachel getting together never occurred to them.

Gunther was really a barista.

James Michael Tyler got the part because he was the only extra to know how to use an espresso mchine. His hair was bleached every week. Tyler created a whole backstory for him – he was a former soap star who slept in the back room of Central Perk.