| Real Person | OTR Character |
| William Burroughs | Old Bull Lee |
| Joan Volmer Adams (Burroughs) | Jane Lee |
| Lucien Carr | Damion |
| Carolyn Cassady (Robinson) | Camille |
| LuAnne Cassady (Henderson) | MaryLou |
| Neal Cassady | Dean Moriarty |
| Hal Chase | Chad King |
| Henry Cru | Remi Boncoeur |
| Bea Franco | Terry |
| Allen Ginsberg | Carlo Marx |
| Diane Hansen | Inez |
| Joan Haverty (Kerouac) | Laura |
| Ed Hinckle | Ed Dunkel |
| Helen Hinckle | Galatea Dunkel |
| John Clellon Holmes | Tom Saybrook |
| Herbert Huncke | Elmo Hassel |
| Frank Jeffries | Stan Shephard |
| Jack Kerouac | Sal Paradise |
| Gabrielle Kerouac | Sal's Aunt |
| Ed White | Tim Gray |
Kerouac's writing was autobiographical and his characters were based on people he knew. It's probably safe to assume that he shifted and embellished personality traits from from time to time, but it's generally accepted that the characters in "On the Road" represented real people as shown in the chart.