Danny and Bobby really do exist and those are their real names. The story of the song has been fictionalized, but the friendship was real. Bobby is actually the guy that Dorothea dated before he went off to join the Navy. Those names were not changed to protect the innocent because Jon was hoping that they would hear the song and he could track them down. Jon talked about them during a show in North Carolina in 2000. I think he said one of them wound up in Florida and had lost all his hair, but was doing well other than that. LOL

Becky