Teen Earns More Than £260,000 Naming Thousands Of Chinese Babies

A savvy teenager claims she is making hundreds of thousands of pounds by naming strangers' babies.

Beau Jessup says she got the idea for the company during a trip to China when a friend had asked her to pick an English name for their dad's mate and has gone on to make more than £260,000 from the quirky venture.

The 19-year-old quickly discovered there were plenty more who wanted their kids to have western names - with parents calling their kids Cinderella, Rambo and even Gandalf, following her advice.

According to reports, it's believed English names are easier to pronounce, read and write, and will help with their future job prospects.

But due to internet restrictions, it's almost impossible for people to access baby naming sites which parents use in the UK, for example.

Beau Jessup/supplied

In 2016, the privately educated Beau launched Special Name, a website which claims to pick names to 'match a child's personality'.

The first 160,000 tots were named for free but since then she has gone on to charge 60p per child and naming more than 670,000 babies, has cashed in thousands, which she says is now being used for her education.

Speaking to News.com.au, the teenager said: "I don't always have an entrepreneurial brain. I do come up with ideas, but predominantly, my interest is in human nature, and I think that's why the business has developed that way it has.

"My parents are really proud but probably because they don't have to pay for my uni fees."

So how does it work?

Firstly, parents get to choose from a list of 12 traits they think best suit their offspring, with options including sensitive, clever, and creative.

Pexels

After that they are given a shortlist of possibilities to choose from, along with the name's meaning and celeb namesakes like Grace Kelly.

Once they've picked a moniker, they can ask to be sent a certificate to keep, marking the special day.

Speaking back in 2016, just after launching the site, she said: "When I went to China I kept being asked to name babies for my parent's friends.

"They explained an English name is vital because you can't use a Chinese name on email or a university application to the UK. Your English name stays with you for life.

"But I also heard lots of examples where people had chosen culturally inappropriate English names they'd heard from films or read online and realised there was an opportunity to help Chinese people get it right from the start."

Topics: World News, UK News, Interesting, China

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom