Pronounciation of the great man's name

[intedomine]

How do you pronounce BONO?

BON - O

BEAU - NO


or sumfin completely outta whack like BOO - NOO

 

[Liesje]

BAH-no

*EDIT: that pronounciation may be slightly biased by a midwestern accent

 

[verte76]

It has taken me 20 years to teach my mother how to pronounce his name! She pronounced it the Italian way for years and it can be an Italian name so it's confusing.

 

[Schmeg]

Not as in Sonny Bono.

Try to tell that to my uncle! Even my mom corrects him at this point!

 

[arw]

My hairdresser, who has seen U2 in concert every time they have come to the Twin Cities since the Joshua Tree (lucky her ) calls him Bone-O....as in Sonny Bono.

Aside from her, I've never heard anyone pronounce it anything other than Bah-no.

 

[Kariann]

My mom was smart the first time she was going to talk about him and asked how to say him name. Everyone I know has pronounced it correctly.

 

[Joha_U2]

I pronounce it as in Spanish, since it's a Latin name, lol... boh-noh I guess.

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

Bonn-Oh

 

[Another U2 nut!]

Yeah, as in O for Orange- but then it depends on your accent. My way works for an Australian accent.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

BON - O

That's how I pronounce it. .

Originally posted by Schmeg
Not as in Sonny Bono.

Try to tell that to my uncle! Even my mom corrects him at this point!

LOL, my parents tease me about that all the time. They always go, "Oh, look, it's Cher's ex-husband!" (heh, yeah, never mind the fact that he was a kid when Cher was with Sonny...but, then again, she does have a thing for younger men ) . My mom's also mispronounced Bono's name jokingly on occasion, too.

Angela

 

[Another U2 nut!]

LOL one person at my work pays out on Bono by calling him 'boney Bone-o'.

 

[Mullen-Girl]

Bohno

 

[kellyahern]

When I was at the King Center tribute center in Altanta, one of the other speakers pronounced Bono's name the wrong way (i.e. Bone-O)

I knew that I was sitting at a table with fellow U2 fans when practically every one of us muttered under our breath "It's Bonn-O!"

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

When I was at the King Center tribute center in Altanta, one of the other speakers pronounced Bono's name the wrong way (i.e. Bone-O)

I knew that I was sitting at a table with fellow U2 fans when practically every one of us muttered under our breath "It's Bonn-O!"

.

Angela

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Didn't Jay Leno say Bone-O the last time they were on the Tonight Show?

 

[Tabby]

When he was walking into the My Vh1 awards in 2000 some of those fake canned fans they hired to scream outside were yelling "Bone-o!"

 

[aine_hewson]

As I'm brazilian, here we pronunciate like it's written...
Bono, not Bah-No... we pronouciate de "o" like a real "o"...err..

can you guys understand???

 

[agentmissa]

When I was at the King Center tribute center in Altanta, one of the other speakers pronounced Bono's name the wrong way (i.e. Bone-O)

I knew that I was sitting at a table with fellow U2 fans when practically every one of us muttered under our breath "It's Bonn-O!"

I do the same thing when people use a hard "o" in his name. I usually take it badly and end up yelling in the end.

 

[aine_hewson]

It depends in which country you are and stuff..
cause i just remember.. when U2 was here.. Mtv was talking to Bono.. and the guy said "Bono Vox" not Bah-no Vox
but bOnO .. and he didn't mind or made a mad face... he smiled actually...

 

[faithingrace]

I have a song recording of a duet of the song Sweet Jane with Maria McKee, in the song he sings "Hey Bono (Bon-o) I want to play in your band". So there it is from the man's mouth.

 

[faithingrace]

I also forgot there was a story I heard Bono tell to Cher (I think) about riding in an elevator in NYC and an elderly lady getting off at a floor (I could be confusing things now) but she turned to him as she left and said it is pronounced Bone-o. Apparently she was Sonny Bono's mom. (could be confusing my stories so if someone remembers it better than me, please fill it in.)

 

[Katey]

Well if your part of Prime Minister Paul Martins team so as no to get confused when the big guy is coming to speak at your convention in toronto.. You do a chart for your staff with Sonny Bono on one side with a big red circle and an x through it and Bono on the other with his name pronounce spelt out it big letters.. Bah-No with a checkmark,

Still even with the diagram they could not get it right.. it was funny though true story.

 

[madamadam]

yeah, alot of ppl say boner thinking its funny but i dont like it much. to help them out i usually say its like MONO- only with a B. hehe

 

[agentmissa]

yeah, alot of ppl say boner thinking its funny but i dont like it much. to help them out i usually say its like MONO- only with a B. hehe

Oh my gosh! You reminded me, my sister and I have a sick joke going, out of no where we'll just say in a high annoying voice, "you want Bono's mono!" It's actually really funny.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

^^^^...oh, geez...

Well if your part of Prime Minister Paul Martins team so as no to get confused when the big guy is coming to speak at your convention in toronto.. You do a chart for your staff with Sonny Bono on one side with a big red circle and an x through it and Bono on the other with his name pronounce spelt out it big letters.. Bah-No with a checkmark,

Still even with the diagram they could not get it right.. it was funny though true story.

...that's great! .

faithingrace, yeah, I've heard that story before-didn't hear the part about the girl being Sonny's mom, though...but that is funny. . He shared it on "Larry King Live" once.

Angela

 

[EveClayton]

I remember when I was now getting into U2...which is not that far btw....I pronounced his name as BO-NO, my neice who is NO U2 Fan..who would DISS THEM any chance she got kept telling me it's not BO-NO it's Bon-0 and it turns out that she was correct....she neevr heard his name prounced before either!

 

[mayflower]

There's a German interview of the four of them(all of U2) on VIVA TV(late 2000) in which Bono is saying to the German fans how to pronounce it.You can download it from the yahoo group:U2_planet.
You'll have to check the Message section for the link.

 

[U2girl]

I watched that German interview too, and I always pronounced it like that too: Bono, like it's written. (both letters o sound the same)

I know most English native speakers either say Bon-oh (the British/Australian way I guess) or Bah-noh (the US way).

*edit* I heard the rest of the band say it too, and it's Bono.

 

[u2_girlie_2002]

as its supposed to be said
lol

though in my household he's sometimes known as Boner That used to annoy me. now I think its cute

 

[bonocrazy88]

My uncle (the one who loves Ali ) calls Bono Sonny, as in Sonny Bono...just to annoy me. He'll say "I saw Sonny on TV this morning..." and I know exactly what he is talking about.

It really irritates me when people call him Bone-O!

Once, in Spanish class, we were doing a fashion show...and we had to present it in Spanish and our presenter would read it aloud. Well, she was reading my profile and I had written (just as a joke) that my spouse was Bono. Well, I had corrected her when we practiced...cuz she said Bono-O...but she still did it anyway...and I just turned and said loudly: "It's BONO!"
My teacher was laughing so hard... and I was mad!