What was the name of the real-life boy on whom the character Huckleberry Finn was based?

The real-life boy on whom Huckleberry Finn was based was Tom Blankenship, Mark Twain's childhood friend in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain later described Blankenship as the model for Huck's independence and rough circumstances.

Blankenship was the son of Woodson Blankenship, a sawmill laborer and sometime drunkard. His family lived near the Clemens home, and young Tom reportedly enjoyed an unusually unrestricted life. Those details helped Twain shape Huck as a boy who slept outdoors, rejected conventional respectability, and valued freedom above comfort.

Huck Finn first appeared as a supporting character in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published in 1876, before becoming the narrator and central character of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884. Tom Sawyer is a separate fictional character, while John Briggs and Will Bowen contributed to aspects of Twain's Tom Sawyer. The fictional Huck is therefore inspired by Tom Blankenship, not identical to him in every detail.