By Mike Stedham, Star Entertainment Writer.
Star 14 September 1995: B8
If you've seen the credits for NBC's hit sitcom "Friends," you may have noticed that one of the stars is named Jennifer Aniston. That's right, Aniston -- as in Anniston, but with one less 'n.'
Ms. Aniston explained this summer that yes, indeed, her family did take its name from the city of Anniston.
She was being interviewed in Los Angeles by Tim Funk, a former Anniston Star reporter who's now the TV critic for The Charlotte Observer. Having lived in Anniston, Funk asked Ms. Aniston about her name.
"My grandfather, when they moved here from Greece, said no one is going to be able to pronounce our name," she told him. "So he was driving through Anniston, Alabama, and he said, 'That sounds close enough.'"
"The family chose to drop an 'n,' and the Americanized version of their hame has stuck for three generations."
By the way, Jennifer Aniston is not the only member of her family to carry the city's name to fame. Her father, John Aniston, is one of the stars of the soap opera "Days of Our Lives."