“Why didn’t I think of this when I was in high school?” That’s what a majority of you will think as you read the following article! A 16-year-old British student has made more than £48,000 (or $62,586.96 USD) naming Chinese babies, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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The BBC reports that the student, Beau Jessup, came up with the idea on a family vacation to China. Jessup was asked by a Chinese family friend to come up with an English-sounding name for their newborn baby. According to the BBC, in China, it is important to have an English-sounding name “for future study or business with the UK.”
Jessup says when she was asked to name the baby, she was initially surprised—telling BBC, “I’m not really qualified or relevant enough in that baby’s life to be the person to give it a name.” After hearing a few names that Jessup deemed “embarrassing” she decided to give it a shot, and has now turned it into a very lucrative business. “There are quite a few examples where people have gotten the names wrong.” Jessup says, “Being exposed to luxury items and things like Harry Potter, Disney films and Lord of the Rings means they use those for reference. I once heard of someone called Gandalf and another called Cinderella.”
In response to the initial request, Jessup created the website “Special Name” to help Chinese people pick names for their babies. China does not offer the same access to the Internet as the Western countries do, and therefore, they do not have access to some of the popular baby-naming websites most people choose from. The BBC reports that, “In China they name their child based on the elements and [Jessup] wanted a similarity between how they pick their Chinese name and how they pick their English name.” She did this by assigning personality traits to each English name.
So how does it work? The prospective parents select the gender of the baby, select five personality traits they hope the baby will develop into, pay roughly £60 (or $78.23 USD), and then are given three names to shop around to family and friends. Once a name has been decided, a certificate is made with the baby’s name, its meaning, and an example of a famous person who shares the name.
Jessup says, “It’s nice to be a part of such a happy experience and be a part of those young stages in a baby’s life.” As for her age, Jessup says the “about” section of the website uses a stock photo of an older woman because she didn’t think people would take the site seriously if people knew her real age. Jessup adds that it’s a nice surprise that the website is doing that well, but it’s quite strange to know she’s named so many babies.