Bonavox

During the 1970s, a group of kids living in Glasnevin, Dublin formed a gang called Lypton Village. But this wasn’t a gang in the usual sense—it was more surrealist theatre than street trouble. They’d perform skits on buses, give each other elaborate nicknames, and roam the city in search of adventure and attention.

Among them was a boy named Paul Hewson, who cycled through several nicknames—Steinvic von Huyseman, Houseman, even Bon Murray. But one name stuck, and it started as a bit of a joke.

One of his closest friends, Gavin Friday, began calling him Bono Vox, inspired by a hearing aid shop the gang often passed on North Earl Street in Dublin. The shop’s name, Bonavox, meant “good voice” in Latin. Gavin teased that Paul sang so loudly, it was as if he were trying to reach the deaf.

At first, Paul hated the nickname. But when he found out what Bono Vox actually meant, he began to warm to it. Eventually, it was shortened to just Bono. By the late seventies, everyone—including his bandmates, wife, and closest friends—knew him simply by that name. And so, from a quirky street gang’s tradition and a storefront in Dublin, one of rock’s most iconic names was born.