After all these years (25 years, to be exact), the ‘Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening is finally breaking his silence on which state Springfield is named after! In a recent interview with Business Insider, he reveals:
Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show “Father Knows Best” took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown. When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, “This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.” And they do.
Groening says he kept it to himself all these years because he didn’t want to ruin it for people, so our apologies if we just ruined it for you after 25 years of wishful thinking!