Cat Johnson | What’s in a Name?

Where do you get the names for your characters?

I hear that question often, and I suppose it’s a valid one since when I’m writing cowboys I tend to not call them common names like Tom, Dick or Harry. In my Oklahoma Nights and Midnight Cowboys series alone I’ve had hot cowboy heroes named Tucker, Logan, Jace, Tyler, and Justin, just to name a few. But the most interesting story about my characters’ names involves two cowboys I met in Las Vegas…

You’re intrigued, aren’t you?! Well, I’m sorry to say I don’t have a salacious story involving wild sexy times. but it’s still an interesting tale.

I was in Vegas with friends attending the Professional Bull Riding Finals two years ago. We were in the bar in the host hotel hoping to see some cowboys and boy, did we. I got pictures with some of the PBR competitors and champions, but just as intriguing was the table of four people who sat next to us. They were from Alaska—a cowboy, his wife, their daughter and her boyfriend, and when they introduced themselves I said then and there, “I’m using both of your names in a book.”

The older one was Rohn, pronounced to rhyme with John, which happened to be the name of this cowboy’s—wait for it—twin brother! Yes, there are two of them but sadly John was not there in Vegas. Colton was the younger cowboy. I already had the character of Tyler, and the name Justin picked out. The addition of Rohn and Colton completed my main male characters for the Midnight Cowboys series I was about to start writing for Kensington Zebra.

Guess whose book is finally releasing this month, more than two years later? Rohn’s! In MIDNIGHT WRANGLER, I wrote Rohn as a slightly older character, a ranch owner and widower in his mid-forties who is finally ready to look for love again five years after the loss of his wife. He employs three ranch hands—Tyler, Justin and Colton—twenty-somethings who, for better or worse, are determined to fix up their boss with a woman. Lucky for Rohn, his high school sweetheart—the girl who broke his heart and disappeared twenty-five years later—is back in town. Rohn isn’t interested in the blind date Tyler arranges or the woman the online dating site matches him with, but he sure is interested in reigniting things with his first love, Bonnie.

Now, you know I can’t let things progress smoothly for these two. They have to work for their happy ending and survive a secret that could possibly bring them closer, if it doesn’t rip them apart forever first. But you’ll have to read the book to find out about that. If you do, I hope you remember the two Alaskan cowboys, Rohn and Colton, who were kind enough to allow a romance writer they met in Vegas to use them and their names as inspiration.

~Cat Johnson

About Cat Johnson

A New York Times and USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author, Cat Johnson is known for her creative marketing practices. Cat has sponsored bull-riding cowboys, promoted romance using bologna and owns a collection of cowboy boots and camouflage for book signings. A fair number of her research consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living.

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About MIDNIGHT WRANGLER

One Lonely Widower…

Rohn Lerner is a successful Oklahoma rancher. He’s old enough to know what he likes, and still young enough to enjoy it. But losing his wife five years ago wore him thin. He’s not ready to date, but he needs someone to share a meal with as badly as someone to warm his bed.

One Woman with a Secret…

Bonnie Martin fled her Oklahoma home years ago, leaving behind her abusive father, and Rohn, the lost love she never forgot. Now she’s back to settle her father’s estate, but she has no idea that she’s about to bump into Rohn or that they’ll fall for each other all over again.

One Night That Changes Everything…