TBF, though Lucas allegedly coined (more accurately attributed to “model makers at ILM” instead of that assclown), various different projects’ teams used terms like “wiggets” (2001:SO; <1968) and “nurnies” (B5; <1993) over the years, and the “greeble” version became popular only recently, in fact.
edit: my bad, didn’t clock the “source” of OP’s “fact” until just now
TBF, though Lucas allegedly coined (more accurately attributed to “model makers at ILM” instead of that assclown), various different projects’ teams used terms like “wiggets” (2001:SO; <1968) and “nurnies” (B5; <1993) over the years, and the “greeble” version became popular only recently, in fact.
edit: my bad, didn’t clock the “source” of OP’s “fact” until just now
You know your stuff! Gotta say, of those terms “greebles” really does sound best to my ear.