| Term | Definition |
| D.B. | Holden's big brother |
| Selma Thurmer | Pencey's headmaster's daughter; nice but not pretty |
| Mr. Zambesi | Tells him to stop throwing the ball around; his real "goodbye" |
| Mr. Spencer | Holden's history teacher who's old and sick |
| Mr. Haas | Headmaster at Elkton School; phony; only greet good looking parents |
| Mr. Thurmer | Headmaster at Pencey; "life is a game" |
| Ossenburger | Pencey alum; gave a speech; made $ by opening funeral homes |
| Edgar Marsalla | Farted during Ossenburger's speech |
| Robert Ackley | Holden's dormmate; bad skin and teeth; no one likes him |
| Ward Stradlater | Holden's roommate; phony friendly; secret slob |
| Jane Gallagher | Stradlater's date; Holden's childhood friend; never moved her kings |
| Mal Brossard | Wrestler that goes into town with Holden and Ackley |
| Ed Banky | Bball coach at Pencey; favored Stradlater |
| Sally Hayes | Holden's old gf; goes to a matinee with her; makes her cry; really pretty |
| Ernest Morrow | Holden meets his mom; tells her that he's popular and sensitive when he's really the biggest bastard |
| Rudolph Schmidt | Janitor of Holden's dorm; Holden's name when talking to Mrs. Morrow |
| Phoebe | Holden's little sister |
| Ann Louis Sherman | Girl that Holden necked with once; phony |
| Eddie Birdsell | Gave Holden Faith Cavendish's number; goes to Princeton |
| Faith Cavendish | Holden calls her to set up a date but it's too late; sounds nice |
| Bernice, Marty, & Laverne | 3 tourists that Holden meets and dances with at the Lavender Room |
| Mr. Cudahy | Jane Gallagher's step-father; booze-hound |
| Ernie | Snobby but talented piano player; phony |
| Horwitz | Touchy cabdriver that drives Holden to Ernie's |
| Lillie Simmons | D.B.'s ex gf; Holden runs into her at Ernie's |
| Maurice | Hotel elevator operator; gets in a fist fight with him |
| Sunny | Young prostitute sent to Holden; she lost her childhood |
| Bobby Fallon | Guy that Holden went biking with instead of Allie |
| Arthur Childs | Quaker that Holden had a religious argument with |
| Dick Slagle | Holden's roommate at Elkton Hills; had crappy suitcases; burgeois |
| Frederick Woodruff | Holden let him borrow his typewriter |
| Estelle Fletcher | Sings "Little Shirley Beans" |
| Al Pike | Jane Gallagher dated him; hot-shot |
| Tina & Janine | French singers at the Wicker Bar |
| The Lunts | Prominent couple in Broadway theater |
| Jim Steele | Holden's pseudo-name |
| Mrs. Aigletinger | Always took Holden's class to the museum |
| Carl Luce | Met him at the Wicker Bar; talks to him about sex and Chinese philosophy |
| James Castle | Nerdy kid who jumped from the window |
| Louis Shaney | First kid Holden met at Whooten; ruined convo when he asked about the Catholic church |
| Mr. Antolini | Holden has a LONG talk with him; likes to drink; makes a "flitty" move |
| Richard Kinsella | Always had "Digression!" shouted at him |
| Bob Robinson | Actually has an inferiority complex but girls think he's arrogant |
| Mr. Vinson | Taught Oral Expressions class |
| The Secret Goldfish | Book of short stories D.B. wrote |
| California | Where Holden is in a loony bin, D.B. lives there |
| The Lagoon in Central Park | Holden wonders where the ducks go when the pond freezes |
| Saturday Night Meals at Pencey | Steak; parents visited the next day and would ask what they had for dinner |
| Egyptians | Topic of Holden's essay; Mr. Spencer goes over with him |
| Whooten School | One of Holden's old schools |
| The Lavender Room | Cheesy club in the Edmont Hotel |
| Clavichord | What Holden has an operation on when Sunny wants to do things; really a type of piano |
| Hollywood | People sell themselves like prostitutes there |
| Elkton Hills | One of Holden's schools |
| July 18, 1946 | The day Allie died; punched out windows of the garage |
| Kettle Drums | Only part Holden likes about the Radio City Christmas show |
| Annapolis | Where D.B. is writing a movie about |
| The Wicker Bar | Gets totally smashed there; drinks with Carl; calls Sally |
| "This Abraham Lincoln, sincere voice" | The way Stradlater talks to his dates |
| Grand Central Station | Holden sleeps/stores his stuff there |
| Carrousel | Holden takes Phoebe there before he gets sick; reminds him of childhood because it never changes and just keeps going around |