How Did Bono and the Edge Pick Names?

Bono always saw U2 in some sort of mythological sense. The names came from a wish to escape suburbia and discover other selves. They gave the other selves names. The Ramones were the key, and the Ramones are really well drawn characters.

David Marchese asks why Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. did not take stage names too. The Edge says that at that age they laughed a lot, at each other and at themselves. The deal was that you could laugh at others if you were prepared to allow them to laugh at you. The Edge says the names were not necessarily designed for a heroic aspect. Bono's very first name was Steinrich van Heyschen bang, bang, bang. The Edge went by another name for a while before becoming the Edge. Adam Clayton was known as Mrs. Burns for a while, and Larry Mullen Jr. was known as the Jam Jar for a while. They loved to laugh and were borrowing a lot from Monty Python.

The Edge says it is about inventing who you want to be rather than who you were given when you were born at a certain point, place in time.