BART SIMPSON is a Grunninger. That’s also how you pronounce the name of his creator, Matt Groening: Grunning. But the Groningen origin is not because of Matt’s father, but comes from his grandmother on his mother’s side, Agnes Klaassen, herself a grandchild of Bram Klaassen and Katrien Dyk. Both from the Dutch north.
Matt Groening is well aware of his Dutch roots, hence his creation of Sideshow Bob Terwilliger. He hired Kelsey Grammer for his voice, and with it Kelsey’s own long Dutch heritage.
Kelsey “Frasier” Grammer is a descendant of the Brinkerhoff, Hoogland, Wyckoff, Van Ness, Van Horn, Van Montfort, Tuite and Schenck families, who began their American emigration adventure in what was then called New Amersfoort, between what are now the Gerritsen and Paerdegat neighborhoods, in Brooklyn on Long Island.
The Dutch name Terwilliger originated in Vianen and is also the name of a street near where Matt Groening lives, in Oregon. Homer, Bart’s dad, on the other hand, is named after Matt’s own father, Homer Groening. The latter grew up among the Anabaptist followers of Menno Simonsz, in Canada, where they read and spoke an old version of Dutch among themselves.
The world is small. Holland is not.
