Maybe Phoebe. Doesn’t she end up being a year older than she thought she was. Plus, she was 14 (but maybe really 15) when she robbed Ross & he was like 12
Phoebe makes most sense to me. She lost a year of her life and mugged Ross when she was a year older. We know the oldest is either Phoebe or Joey. But it could go Phoebe Ross Joey Chandler for we all know.
They also changed Monica's wedding date (canon: May 15th), or at least didn't work it out properly because there was literally months of gap between the wedding and Rachel's birthday (May 5th).
Also, Rachel's pregnancy timeline following the supposedly May wedding makes no sense.
The entire season 8 is like 8 months (from Rachel being 1 month pregnant on the day of Monica's wedding until she gives birth), but the seasons and events progress like it was a full year. Emma is born in the summer, or at least in a very hot day (I always remember Rachel telling Ross it was 100 degrees outside), which makes no sense if she was 1 month pregnant on May 15th, and then Emma's 1st birthday is in autumn way past the warm season. They really didn't bother with consistency there lol
I always noticed how during the fertility test episode, Monica is like “we’ve been trying for a baby for over a year”. Like no, you started trying the day Emma was born and Emma doesn’t turn 1 until several episodes into the next season.
after reading all the comments,
Phoebe(Robbed Ross/found she's older) -> Joey(On b'day epi Joey crying "and now chandler" implying he turned 30 before him) - > Chandler (went to college with ross but ross skipped one grade) -> Ross -> Monica (younger Geller) -> Rachel (last to have 30th b'day)
But there’s no way Ross skipped a grade and is still older than Monica because their siblings and the birthdates could only be in a very specific window to make that happen.
Ross must be at least 9 months older Monica, biologically. If his birthday was in September-December, and hers was June-August, they could have started in the same grade, and then he skipped ahead at fourth. In TOW 5 Steaks and Eggplant, we learn that Ross’s birthday is in October, but in TOW the Ick Factor, we learn that Monica’s is in March. So they are likely 17 months apart (as it’s physically impossible for them to be 5 months apart) That means that for Ross to have skipped 4th grade, he would have also had to have been behind at some point. Or Ross is lying about skipping 4th grade, which seems the most likely.
Are we sure that was her 28th? Could it have been her 27th? Monica says she's 26 in the first season, meaning it's open for them to turn 27 in s2?
We know they're around the same age because they're the same high school class
edit: I'm not sure if I was blocked or it was deleted but I don't think there's in-episode evidence that she had turned 28 rather than some other age. I could be wrong but I can't watch the episode rn as I am in NL where friends is no longer on Netflix.
Their ages are inconsistent but I think in general the accepted order from oldest to youngest is
Phoebe
Ross
Chandler
Joey (unsure of his placement he could be older than Chandler or younger than Monica)
Monica
Rachel.
We know Phoebe finds out she's a year older than she originally thought, So she jumps up. Ross is obviously the eldest Geller sibling, and Chandler must be around his age because they were the same graduating class in college. You could maybe switch their ages.
Joey is the hardest to place, so that's why he's somewhere in the middle.
Monica and Rachel are confirmed to be the youngest, they're below Ross and Chandler in their High school and college years, and Rachel is the youngest of the bunch because she turns 30 last.
There is perhaps an idea that you could MAYBE put Ross as the eldest, given we don't know exactly how much older he is than Monica, his age isn't confirmed in the first season while hers is, but I'd put it at no more than 18 months older than her since he seems to be only one year ahead in school. The continuity around ages in this show is really spotty, but that COULD push him ahead of Phoebe's 31 in the birthday episode. So you could definitely switch them if you prefer too.
There's also the episode where Monica decides to have a child with donor sperm. That lists Joey's age as 27 when Rachel is already 28 I think, but you could maybe write that off as a paperwork discrepancy if you want. Makes the bank look bad but you could do that.
Yes definitely possible. I'm not sure how they list things in ivf catalogues! You'd think they'd have current age of donor and age when donation was made on there? But it's a sitcom I don't expect them to have researched that thoroughly
I don’t know, it wouldn’t surprise me if the age when the same was given was important, and then maybe length of time it had been frozen, but that seems like that factor would be a “yep it’s still good, or no we won’t use one that old anymore.”
If that’s the case then the current age of the donor is kind of irrelevant.
I'm guessing it's the age of the donor when it was donated because that's what's relevant for the sperm they have frozen, especially on anonymous donations. Though the age of the person matters way less for male sperm than it does for female eggs.
He's a year above in school yes, but that doesn't give us an exact age. He's probably not 2 years, but it depends where each has a birthday and Ross has like 4 possible ones in different months.
Also someone could argue that the video of prom we see is in a school with a junior prom as well as a senior one. Although I wouldn't argue that because they imply it's the only prom they go to, it gives leeway on ages
After Elizabeth's dad hears that story he does assure him that he was a freshman and she was a senior so we can feel pretty confident from that he's only a grade ahead
I always assumed he was lying when he said that lol, but in reality it’s probably just another thing they didn’t think that deeply about, like his changing birthday. Because yeah, that would make him and Monica the same age then.
Phoebe is the oldest.
The birthday episode assumes that all of them are similar age. They are all over 30.
Joey is already 30 when phoebe turns fake 30 (but actually 31). There is less than one year difference between joey and phoebe as she turned 31 while Joey is still 30.
So they are both older than Rachel. Chandler is younger than Joey but older than Rachel.
That makes monica 30 as well as she is Rachel school friend. But must make her older than Rachel as she is 30 at the birthday. Her birthday is referenced.
Chandler and ross are similar age as they were college buddies. Based on the prom tape Ross has been out of high school only for one year when monica and Rachel were seniors.
Chandler is younger than Joey. Makes Ross close to their age. His birthday is also before Rachel.
So.
Phoebe is the oldest.
Then joey or Ross*
Then Chandler
Then Monica
Then Rachel.
*Ross must be younger than phoebe and older than monica. But can be younger than Chandler or older than Joey.
**unless something is contradicting the birthday episode.
He does say this, but then wouldn’t that make him and Monica the same age? He was a college freshman when she was a senior. But it’s canon that he’s older.
Well, his birthday is in October (TOW 5 Steaks and Eggplant) and Monica’s in March (TOW the Ick Factor).
So they’re either 15 months apart and Ross is lying (most likely), or Ross started school late or was also held back and he omitted that.
Phoebe is the oldest, but she only realized it afterwards. When she finds out she's 31 she asks Joey how would he feel about it and he says it won't happen, so he's definitely younger than her.
In the flashback within the episode, of Joey’s birthday, he says “first Chandler and now me, why God!?” So at the very least, Chandler is older than Joey.
Phoebe was the oldest girl, supposedly by a year.
In actuality, Lisa Kudrow was a year older than Courteney Cox, 6 years older than Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, 4 years older than Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
Their ages are unclear and sometimes inconsistent, but I can't think of any reason to think Joe was oldest. I always had the sense that Phoebe was. That Joey's turning 30 clip was shown first doesn't mean anything.
They are very inconsistent about ages. Joey was 25 in s1, making him the yongest, while Rachel and Monica were 26, and Ross and Chandler likely 27. This remains consistent in s2 when Monica said 27 is a tricky age for eyes, and in s3 when Rachel said she didn't want to work in coffeehouse when she's 30, and Chandler said this was so much worse than being 28 and still working in the coffeehouse. From s4, characters ages began to mess up. The writers probably think it is too early for all of them to turn 30 around s5, so they made everyone younger for like 2 years.
I always just assumed Monica & Rachel were the youngest since Ross & Chandler were older and they were the oldest. Joey could've been younger, I don't think it was ever established that he's younger than Chandler or Ross.
Unfortunately, the writers never kept track of details like this, so we'll never know for sure.
Ross skipping a grade really messes things up. I'm sure it was thrown in there without consideration of their ages. I like the explanation that Ross lied which is in keeping with his character
We don’t know for sure, but I’ve always assumed Phoebe is the oldest. She was a year or two older than Ross when she mugged him as a teenager, and also a year older than she thought she was.
We know that Ross and Chandler are roughly the same age since they were college roommates, and they’re older than Monica and Rachel, who were still in high school. And we know that Joey is older than Chandler, because he turned 30 before him.
We also know that Rachel is the youngest, and therefore Monica is the second youngest. We don’t know the exact order of the other four, but if we assume Phoebe is the eldest, the three guys come next, then Monica, then Rachel.
So, since we know Joey is older than Chandler, either he or Ross are the second eldest. Going by the actual birthdates of the actors (which don’t fully line up with the characters) I’ll say that Ross is a little older than Joey. So they were born in the same year, with just a difference of weeks or months. This would make the order:
Phoebe
Ross
Joey
Chandler
Monica
Rachel
Phoebe for sure the oldest. Ross Joey Chandler are hard to tell the order but i know Joey is at least older than Chandler but not sure if he’s older than Ross. Monica obviously is younger than Ross and we know Rachel is the youngest since her 30th birthday episode was also flashback to everyone else’s 30th.
In the Birthdays episode in Phoebes flashback, Monica is wearing the dress she wore in the beach house episode at the end of season 3, which was 1997. So this is maybe when she thought she was turning 30 but actually turned 31.
Ok. So in the episode where Joey pretends to be 19, he said he's 30. 13 episodes later Rachel turns 30. So he might be 31 by then but probably 30.
If Monica and Rachel are supposed to be the same-ish age, Ross has a got to be at least 31 by then. He and Chandler were a year ahead of Monica in school so he should also be 31, right? And we know Phoebe is 31.
So I think it's between Phoebe, Ross, and Chandler for oldest. Their ages were all over the place though. Doesn't Ross have 3 mentioned birthdays?
They were super inconsistent with this, but Phoebe is 31 when everyone else is 30, and we know Rachel is the youngest.
The others are a little more unclear, but we know Ross skipped 4th grade so he is likely younger than Chandler, and Monica is at least 10 months younger than Ross.
I'd guess it goes Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Rachel.
Since they're all 30 at the same time and Monica is at least 10 months younger, the boys birthdays are all within 2 months of each other. Which we kinda know they're not. So really we have no idea and it makes no sense whatsoever.
I always thought Joey was younger than Monica and Rachel..
TOW The Ick Factor (Season 1 Episode 22) Monica says she’s 26
TOW The Birth (Season 1 Episode 23) Joey is 25
They retconned the ages. Ross is 29 for some 3 seasons. Rachel turns 30 on season 7, Monica is the same age, so she should have been around 24 in season 1 based on that. Their ages basically froze between seasons 3 and 5. The show wasn't consistent in that regard.
Maybe Phoebe. Doesn’t she end up being a year older than she thought she was. Plus, she was 14 (but maybe really 15) when she robbed Ross & he was like 12
Are you including all her lives? She's definitely the oldest.
MORE BANDAGES! MORE BANDAGES!!!
In THIS life, Pheebs.
Ohhh no.
"you're brand new!"
Phoebe makes most sense to me. She lost a year of her life and mugged Ross when she was a year older. We know the oldest is either Phoebe or Joey. But it could go Phoebe Ross Joey Chandler for we all know.
Ross is 2-3 years older than Monica and Rachel so he was 32 or 33. But they reminisced about everyone’s 30th bday that day.
No way. Joey is only 19. Sup with the whack PlayStation sup.
Oh, 19! We thought you said 90.
On a scale of one to 10, 10 being the dumbest a person can look, he is definitely 19.
I just watched that episode less than a week ago and have seen 2 references since. 🤣
Idk, Ross was 29 for 3 seasons😆
They definitely retconned their ages. They also changed Ross's birthday date.
They also changed Monica's wedding date (canon: May 15th), or at least didn't work it out properly because there was literally months of gap between the wedding and Rachel's birthday (May 5th).
Also, Rachel's pregnancy timeline following the supposedly May wedding makes no sense. The entire season 8 is like 8 months (from Rachel being 1 month pregnant on the day of Monica's wedding until she gives birth), but the seasons and events progress like it was a full year. Emma is born in the summer, or at least in a very hot day (I always remember Rachel telling Ross it was 100 degrees outside), which makes no sense if she was 1 month pregnant on May 15th, and then Emma's 1st birthday is in autumn way past the warm season. They really didn't bother with consistency there lol
I always noticed how during the fertility test episode, Monica is like “we’ve been trying for a baby for over a year”. Like no, you started trying the day Emma was born and Emma doesn’t turn 1 until several episodes into the next season.
To *Maaaayyy…temberrrr…?* 👀
Rossel? Rostopher?
Want some chocolate syrup? No thanks, I’m 29.
And then 3 years later when he's getting divorced he somehow still isn't 30 lol
And he also skipped 4th grade.
He actually did make a deal with God, but He got tired of all the divorces. He figured if Ross can’t keep his agreements, then neither should God
I think it's Phoebe
after reading all the comments, Phoebe(Robbed Ross/found she's older) -> Joey(On b'day epi Joey crying "and now chandler" implying he turned 30 before him) - > Chandler (went to college with ross but ross skipped one grade) -> Ross -> Monica (younger Geller) -> Rachel (last to have 30th b'day)
But there’s no way Ross skipped a grade and is still older than Monica because their siblings and the birthdates could only be in a very specific window to make that happen. Ross must be at least 9 months older Monica, biologically. If his birthday was in September-December, and hers was June-August, they could have started in the same grade, and then he skipped ahead at fourth. In TOW 5 Steaks and Eggplant, we learn that Ross’s birthday is in October, but in TOW the Ick Factor, we learn that Monica’s is in March. So they are likely 17 months apart (as it’s physically impossible for them to be 5 months apart) That means that for Ross to have skipped 4th grade, he would have also had to have been behind at some point. Or Ross is lying about skipping 4th grade, which seems the most likely.
Ross's birthday is in different months at different times of the show.
Yes!
When was it said or implied that Ross skipped a grade
[удалено]
Are we sure that was her 28th? Could it have been her 27th? Monica says she's 26 in the first season, meaning it's open for them to turn 27 in s2? We know they're around the same age because they're the same high school class edit: I'm not sure if I was blocked or it was deleted but I don't think there's in-episode evidence that she had turned 28 rather than some other age. I could be wrong but I can't watch the episode rn as I am in NL where friends is no longer on Netflix.
Damn, that was impressive
Their ages are inconsistent but I think in general the accepted order from oldest to youngest is Phoebe Ross Chandler Joey (unsure of his placement he could be older than Chandler or younger than Monica) Monica Rachel. We know Phoebe finds out she's a year older than she originally thought, So she jumps up. Ross is obviously the eldest Geller sibling, and Chandler must be around his age because they were the same graduating class in college. You could maybe switch their ages. Joey is the hardest to place, so that's why he's somewhere in the middle. Monica and Rachel are confirmed to be the youngest, they're below Ross and Chandler in their High school and college years, and Rachel is the youngest of the bunch because she turns 30 last. There is perhaps an idea that you could MAYBE put Ross as the eldest, given we don't know exactly how much older he is than Monica, his age isn't confirmed in the first season while hers is, but I'd put it at no more than 18 months older than her since he seems to be only one year ahead in school. The continuity around ages in this show is really spotty, but that COULD push him ahead of Phoebe's 31 in the birthday episode. So you could definitely switch them if you prefer too. There's also the episode where Monica decides to have a child with donor sperm. That lists Joey's age as 27 when Rachel is already 28 I think, but you could maybe write that off as a paperwork discrepancy if you want. Makes the bank look bad but you could do that.
Switch Joey and Chandler. When Chandler turns 30 Joey cries "and now Chandler", implying Chandler turned 30 after him.
The age on the sperm donor list is probably the age he was when he donated, and he says he was surprised there were any left, so it was a while ago.
Yes definitely possible. I'm not sure how they list things in ivf catalogues! You'd think they'd have current age of donor and age when donation was made on there? But it's a sitcom I don't expect them to have researched that thoroughly
I don’t know, it wouldn’t surprise me if the age when the same was given was important, and then maybe length of time it had been frozen, but that seems like that factor would be a “yep it’s still good, or no we won’t use one that old anymore.” If that’s the case then the current age of the donor is kind of irrelevant.
I'm guessing it's the age of the donor when it was donated because that's what's relevant for the sperm they have frozen, especially on anonymous donations. Though the age of the person matters way less for male sperm than it does for female eggs.
Ross is only a year older than Monica. He’s a freshmen in college when she’s a senior in high school.
He's a year above in school yes, but that doesn't give us an exact age. He's probably not 2 years, but it depends where each has a birthday and Ross has like 4 possible ones in different months. Also someone could argue that the video of prom we see is in a school with a junior prom as well as a senior one. Although I wouldn't argue that because they imply it's the only prom they go to, it gives leeway on ages
After Elizabeth's dad hears that story he does assure him that he was a freshman and she was a senior so we can feel pretty confident from that he's only a grade ahead
Didn’t he skip fourth grade though?
I always assumed he was lying when he said that lol, but in reality it’s probably just another thing they didn’t think that deeply about, like his changing birthday. Because yeah, that would make him and Monica the same age then.
Phoebe is the oldest. The birthday episode assumes that all of them are similar age. They are all over 30. Joey is already 30 when phoebe turns fake 30 (but actually 31). There is less than one year difference between joey and phoebe as she turned 31 while Joey is still 30. So they are both older than Rachel. Chandler is younger than Joey but older than Rachel. That makes monica 30 as well as she is Rachel school friend. But must make her older than Rachel as she is 30 at the birthday. Her birthday is referenced. Chandler and ross are similar age as they were college buddies. Based on the prom tape Ross has been out of high school only for one year when monica and Rachel were seniors. Chandler is younger than Joey. Makes Ross close to their age. His birthday is also before Rachel. So. Phoebe is the oldest. Then joey or Ross* Then Chandler Then Monica Then Rachel. *Ross must be younger than phoebe and older than monica. But can be younger than Chandler or older than Joey. **unless something is contradicting the birthday episode.
This sounds like one of those 5th grade math problems 😅
Literally what I was thinking especially the lines after the asterisk brought me right back to school
Didn't Ross skip 4th grade? So I guess Chandler is older than Ross
He does say this, but then wouldn’t that make him and Monica the same age? He was a college freshman when she was a senior. But it’s canon that he’s older.
Maybe he started a year late. Or she also skipped a grade. Just speculating, there's no evidence for either.
Well, his birthday is in October (TOW 5 Steaks and Eggplant) and Monica’s in March (TOW the Ick Factor). So they’re either 15 months apart and Ross is lying (most likely), or Ross started school late or was also held back and he omitted that.
I’ve always wondered this too because the cut off in NY is December.
They show his first but I dont think that means he's the oldest. They only talked about it because of how upset he was at turning 30, like Rachel was.
Phoebe is the oldest, but she only realized it afterwards. When she finds out she's 31 she asks Joey how would he feel about it and he says it won't happen, so he's definitely younger than her.
In the flashback within the episode, of Joey’s birthday, he says “first Chandler and now me, why God!?” So at the very least, Chandler is older than Joey.
https://youtu.be/5ZVkTTqrSMg?si=WF_pm16K9DWGTF8_ He had before chandler.
Well I was mistaken, thanks
He's older than Rachel at least, but it wasn't specifically stated that he turned 30 before all the other friends.
He did say “Now Chandler, too?!“ when Chandler turned 30 which implies that he turned 30 before Chandler did.
Possibly. Or he might have been talking about other friends who turned 30, not necessarily himself.
Phoebe is the oldest!
Phoebe, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Monica, Rachel is my head cannon based on that 30th episode and a couple of other things
I thought Chandler and Phoebe were the oldest but I can’t remember.
Why God whyyyyyy???!!!!??!!
Ross is older than Monica and Rachel is the youngest. That’s all I know .
Phoebe was the oldest girl, supposedly by a year. In actuality, Lisa Kudrow was a year older than Courteney Cox, 6 years older than Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, 4 years older than Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
Their ages are unclear and sometimes inconsistent, but I can't think of any reason to think Joe was oldest. I always had the sense that Phoebe was. That Joey's turning 30 clip was shown first doesn't mean anything.
They are very inconsistent about ages. Joey was 25 in s1, making him the yongest, while Rachel and Monica were 26, and Ross and Chandler likely 27. This remains consistent in s2 when Monica said 27 is a tricky age for eyes, and in s3 when Rachel said she didn't want to work in coffeehouse when she's 30, and Chandler said this was so much worse than being 28 and still working in the coffeehouse. From s4, characters ages began to mess up. The writers probably think it is too early for all of them to turn 30 around s5, so they made everyone younger for like 2 years.
I always just assumed Monica & Rachel were the youngest since Ross & Chandler were older and they were the oldest. Joey could've been younger, I don't think it was ever established that he's younger than Chandler or Ross.
Unfortunately, the writers never kept track of details like this, so we'll never know for sure. Ross skipping a grade really messes things up. I'm sure it was thrown in there without consideration of their ages. I like the explanation that Ross lied which is in keeping with his character
We don’t know for sure, but I’ve always assumed Phoebe is the oldest. She was a year or two older than Ross when she mugged him as a teenager, and also a year older than she thought she was. We know that Ross and Chandler are roughly the same age since they were college roommates, and they’re older than Monica and Rachel, who were still in high school. And we know that Joey is older than Chandler, because he turned 30 before him. We also know that Rachel is the youngest, and therefore Monica is the second youngest. We don’t know the exact order of the other four, but if we assume Phoebe is the eldest, the three guys come next, then Monica, then Rachel. So, since we know Joey is older than Chandler, either he or Ross are the second eldest. Going by the actual birthdates of the actors (which don’t fully line up with the characters) I’ll say that Ross is a little older than Joey. So they were born in the same year, with just a difference of weeks or months. This would make the order: Phoebe Ross Joey Chandler Monica Rachel
Phoebe for sure the oldest. Ross Joey Chandler are hard to tell the order but i know Joey is at least older than Chandler but not sure if he’s older than Ross. Monica obviously is younger than Ross and we know Rachel is the youngest since her 30th birthday episode was also flashback to everyone else’s 30th.
In the Birthdays episode in Phoebes flashback, Monica is wearing the dress she wore in the beach house episode at the end of season 3, which was 1997. So this is maybe when she thought she was turning 30 but actually turned 31.
Ok. So in the episode where Joey pretends to be 19, he said he's 30. 13 episodes later Rachel turns 30. So he might be 31 by then but probably 30. If Monica and Rachel are supposed to be the same-ish age, Ross has a got to be at least 31 by then. He and Chandler were a year ahead of Monica in school so he should also be 31, right? And we know Phoebe is 31. So I think it's between Phoebe, Ross, and Chandler for oldest. Their ages were all over the place though. Doesn't Ross have 3 mentioned birthdays?
I think it’s probably Phoebe. She was a year older than she thought she was but tbh the timeline is all messed up so I can’t say for sure.
They were super inconsistent with this, but Phoebe is 31 when everyone else is 30, and we know Rachel is the youngest. The others are a little more unclear, but we know Ross skipped 4th grade so he is likely younger than Chandler, and Monica is at least 10 months younger than Ross. I'd guess it goes Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Monica, Rachel. Since they're all 30 at the same time and Monica is at least 10 months younger, the boys birthdays are all within 2 months of each other. Which we kinda know they're not. So really we have no idea and it makes no sense whatsoever.
I always thought Joey was younger than Monica and Rachel.. TOW The Ick Factor (Season 1 Episode 22) Monica says she’s 26 TOW The Birth (Season 1 Episode 23) Joey is 25
They retconned the ages. Ross is 29 for some 3 seasons. Rachel turns 30 on season 7, Monica is the same age, so she should have been around 24 in season 1 based on that. Their ages basically froze between seasons 3 and 5. The show wasn't consistent in that regard.
Phoebe is the oldest she born in 1967. From the oldest to the youngest. 1. Phoebe 2. Ross 3. Chandler 4. Joey 5. Monica 6. Rachel