 To voice the central character of the series , Hillenburg turned to Tom Kenny , whose career in animation had started alongside Hillenburg 's on Rocko 's Modern Life . Elements of Kenny 's own personality were employed in further developing the character . Initially , Hillenburg wanted to use the name SpongeBoy — the character would have had no last name , and the series would have been called SpongeBoy Ahoy ! However , the Nickelodeon legal department discovered — after voice acting had been completed for the original seven @-@ minute pilot episode — that the name " SpongeBoy " was already in use for a mop product . Flaming Carrot Comics creator Bob Burden also owned the trademark to a character of the same name . In choosing a replacement name , Hillenburg felt that he still had to use the word " Sponge " , so that viewers would not mistake the character for a " Cheese Man " . He settled on the name " SpongeBob " . " SquarePants " was then chosen as a family name after Kenny saw a picture of the character and remarked , " Boy , look at this sponge in square pants , thinking he can get a job in a fast food place . " Hillenburg loved the phrase upon hearing Kenny say it and felt that it would reinforce the character 's nerdiness . 
