March 13, 1960) on bass, Paul Hewson (later nicknamed "Bono Vox" and eventually just "Bono", b. May 10, 1960) on vocals, and Dave Evans (later nicknamed "The Edge", b. August 8, 1961) on guitar. The members of the group would give each other names that they felt reflected who they were better than their given names. The origin of Bono's name has been variously attributed to a dog food, a brand of hearing aid, and the Latin phrase for 'good voice'. The hearing-aid explanation seems to be the most widely accepted. There was a shop in the O'Connell Street area of Dublin, which sold 'Bonavox' hearing aids, and this seems to have been adapted to Bono Vox. (Jackson 7).
In the early days of the band, Bono was the dominant force, playing guitar, singing, and writing the songs. After a while, The Edge (Dave Evans) began to outwit Bono on guitar and left Bono with vocals and lyric writing. Even during that time, the other members had a feelings of maybe forcing him to leave the band since they didn't feel his voice was the best that they had heard. Luckily, they decided that a more raw voice might help them from the constant soft and overly manufactured pop voices that they had heard at that time. (Chatterton 13).
People began responding very quickly to the band and they decided to change their name to ""The Hype," and began rehearsing on weekends and after school as often as possible. They started forming strong friendships that would act, as a family as well as a bond between band members that is rare to find. Their big break finally came at a talent show in Limerick Ireland in March, 1978.Just shortly before entering they decided to change their name to something more dynamic. They agreed upon the name "U2- in remembrance of the American spy plane that had been shot down due to political issues. (Jackson, 14-16).
Jackie Hayden was the judge at the Limerick talent show who was representing CBS Records.