 Matt Groening first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks 's office . Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show , and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip . When he realized that <unk> Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life 's work , Groening decided to go in another direction , and <unk> <unk> out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family . The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening 's youngest sister . Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19 , 1987 in the short " Good Night " . In 1989 , the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons , a half @-@ hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company . Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show . 
