"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," he told Smithsonian magazine.
"When I grew up, I realised it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the US. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield'. And they do."
The cultural phenomenon which is The Simpsons has been on air for 22 years and, after over 500 episodes, is both the longest-running sitcom and cartoon in America.
Groening also spoke about how Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are named after his own father, mother and two sisters.
He revealed that, while his father was the inspiration for the father in The Simpsons, the real life Homer did not eat doughnuts.
"My father was a really sharp cartoonist and filmmaker. He used to tape-record the family surreptitiously, either while we were driving around or at dinner, and in 1963 he and I made up a story about a brother and a sister, Lisa and Matt, having an adventure out in the woods with animals. I told it to my sister Lisa, and she in turn told it to my sister Maggie.
"My father recorded the telling of the story by Lisa to Maggie, and then he used it as the soundtrack to a movie. So the idea of dramatising the family – Lisa, Maggie, Matt – I think was the inspiration for doing something kind of autobiographical with The Simpsons.
Groening said he has long given fake answers when asked about the Simpsons' hometown, leaving open the possibility that his latest one is itself another fake.
"I don't want to ruin it for people, you know? Whenever people say it's Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield, Massachusetts, or Springfield, wherever, I always go, "Yup, that's right."
However, the city has already incorporated the Simpsons into its own town lore. The Springfield Museum features a couch similar to the animated one shown in the show's opening credits, and a plaque marking the movie's release.
"Yo to Springfield, Oregon – the real Springfield!" Groening wrote. "Your pal, Matt Groening proud Oregonian!"
The show has made a running joke of hiding the true Springfield's location. In one episode, daughter Lisa points to Springfield on a map, but the animated "camera view" is blocked by son Bart's head.
People in the real Springfield – the one in Oregon – took on the mantle of the show's hometown after Groening visited during a tour before the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie.
Back then, tiny Springfield, Vermont, beat out 13 other like-named cities, including the one in Oregon, to host the movie premiere. The cities submitted videos meant to connect themselves to the fictional Springfield.
When Springfield, Oregon, community-relations manager Niel Laudati was told about Groening's announcement, he said: "Oh OK, we knew that."
The Springfield depicted in "The Simpsons" isn't always a flattering portrait. The school is falling apart, there's a constant fire at the town dump, and Mayor Quimby is chronically, helplessly corrupt.
"We kind of got past it," Laudati said. "We don't dwell on the bad stuff. Obviously we don't have a nuclear power plant. We don't have a lot of stuff in the Simpsons.
Read more at The Telegraph
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