In 'The Iron Giant', what is the name of the boy who befriends the giant?

In The Iron Giant, the boy who befriends the giant is Hogarth Hughes.

Hogarth is a nine-year-old living with his widowed mother, Annie, in Rockwell, Maine. Set in 1957 during the Cold War, the story begins when Hogarth investigates strange power outages and discovers the fifty-foot extraterrestrial robot near an electrical substation. Although he is initially frightened, Hogarth returns to help the Giant and soon recognizes that the enormous machine is gentle, curious, and childlike.

Hogarth becomes the Giant's guide to human life. He shows him comic books and explains the difference between heroes and weapons, comparing him to Superman. This friendship drives the film's central question: whether someone built as a weapon can choose to become a protector.

A common mix-up is choosing Annie, who is Hogarth's mother; Kent Mansley, the suspicious federal agent; or Dean McCoppin, the beatnik artist who helps hide the Giant. Hogarth's surname also connects the character to author Ted Hughes, whose 1968 novel The Iron Man inspired the film, and artist Burne Hogarth.