‘Gilmore Girls’: Was Paris Geller Related To Ross and Monica Geller from ‘Friends’?

Friends and Gilmore Girls share a similarly loyal following, but on the surface, they appear to have very little else in common. That is until you notice that the same last name is used for major characters in both shows. Paris Geller was Rory Gilmore’s nemesis turned a friend on Gilmore Girls, while Monica and Ross Geller, were the brother-sister duo on Friends. Is it possible that Paris and Monica and Ross were related?

The New York Gellers and Paris Geller don’t just share a last name

Geller isn’t the most common last name in the world, but it’s also not the most unique. According to Forebears, about 10,000 people in the United States carry the surname of Geller. Just over 2,000 of those Gellers live in New York, while the surname appears only 100 times in Connecticut, where Paris lived. If Paris, Monica, and Ross just shared a surname, we could consider it a coincidence, but Paris also happens to share a middle name with Ross and, possibly, Monica.

Monica’s middle name is a bit of a mystery. Fans know it begins with the letter “E” because Monica mentioned her initials were M.E.G. Fans know that Ross’ middle name is Eustace, though. That’s an awfully unique middle name. Strangely enough, Paris also happens to bear the unique middle name. Could it be possible that Eustace is a family name used on multiple people? The same middle and last name seems too deliberate to be a coincidence.

Paris Geller and Ross and Monica Geller were raised in similar environments

Paris is introduced to Gilmore Girls fans in the first season of the show. Very little is known about her parents, but from what was mentioned, the Connecticut Gellers were very wealthy. Paris’ parents were constantly traveling, and they employed a full-time nanny to take care of their only child. It’s never mentioned what Paris’ father did for a living, but fans largely assume he was a high-level executive. Paris’ relationship with her mother was known to be particularly frosty.

Friends writers never mentioned what Jack and Judy Geller did for a living, but it’s assumed they were fairly comfortable, financially. They lived in a neighborhood were doctors commonly resided, and Jack was wealthy enough to buy a Porsche. Sure, the Connecticut Gellers appeared to be richer than the New York Gellers, but they seemed to fall into the same general social bracket. Monica’s relationship with Judy had the same feel as Paris’ mother-daughter bond or lack thereof.

How would Paris Geller and Ross and Monica Geller have been related?

While it’s never stated or even suggested that Paris was somehow related to the Friends characters, if they were related, they would have likely been first cousins. Consider the fact that they share a last name; the connection would have been on their fathers’ side of the family. So, in order for the theory to work, Jack Geller and Paris’ father, whose name was never revealed, would have had to have been brothers.

Paris was significantly younger than Monica and Ross, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t related. In 2000, when Gilmore Girls aired, Paris was 16 years old. Friends was in its seventh season in 2000. When the show premiered, Monica was supposed to be 24 years old, and Ross was supposed to be 26. That means Ross and Monica were 17 and 15 years older than their presumed cousin, Paris, which is totally believable if Paris’ father had married later in life.