March 16, 1956
In 1953, Art Clokey, a graduate student at the USC film school, created a 3-minute clay animation short he called "Gumbasia." Sam Engel, a studio exec, saw the piece and asked Clokey to produce additional material involving Gumby, which first appeared in six-minute excerpts on the "Howdy Doody." On March 16, 1956, however, The Gumby Show premiered on NBC, featuring the adventures of Gumby and his horse Pokey.
Source: San Antonio Express-News, 5/18/1997

"SpongeBob SchwammKopf" (Spongehead)
In France, SpongeBob is "Bob l'eponge" (Bob the Sponge), "SpongyaBob Kockanadrag" (SpongeBob CubePants) in Hungary "Kempiniukas Placiakelnis" (SpongeGuy WidePants) in Lithuania.
Source: USA Today, 9/8/2009

July 17, 1999

Source: UPI, 7/19/2009

"The Flagstones"
Fred and Wilma Flintstone were previously going to have the last name "Flagstone", until Hanna-Barbera received threats from Flagston, the name of the couple in the comic "Hi and Lois." Fred and Wilma also briefly had the last name "Gladstone" before "Flintstone" was settled upon.
Source: Los Angeles Times, 5/27/1994