Yes, there was a VERY good article along this line--Hugh J. Dawson's "The
Ethnicity of Huck Finn--and the Difference It Makes"--published in ALR 30,
ii (1998): 1-16.  As Dawson explains, Huck's Irish surname tapped into a
prevailing view of Irish-Americans as "given over to drunkenness, violence,
and lewdness."  Dawson looks at the other names in the novel, too.

Hope this helps.

Alan Gribben
Auburn University Montgomery