 Many of the ideas for the series originated in an unpublished educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone , which Hillenburg created in 1989 . He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko 's Modern Life , and turned to Tom Kenny , who had worked with him on that series , to voice the title character . SpongeBob was originally going to be named SpongeBoy , and the series was to be called SpongeBoy Ahoy ! , but these were both changed , as the name was already trademarked . 
