Photo: specialname.cn
“When I grow up, I want to help people pick their baby’s name,” said no kid ever. Typically, we expect our children to dream of becoming astronauts, scientists or even rockstars. Oddly enough, being a baby namer has got one UK teen laughing all the way to the bank.
Beau Jessup is only 16-years-old and she’s already earned almost £50,000 (or over $82,000 CDN) by simply helping Chinese parents select English names for their babies. Currently, she’s helped over 200,000 parents. The young entrepreneur from Gloucestershire started her own website called ‘Special Name’ six months ago. She was inspired to create the site after a visit to China where a woman asked her to suggest an English name for her baby. An English name is vital for Chinese children since they can’t use their Chinese name on an email or a university application to the UK. But Chinese parents often mistakenly choose names from pop culture without realizing how unconventional they are. Hearing names like Cinderella and Gandalf made Beau realize there was a real opportunity to help Chinese parents get it right.
The website asks parents to select their child’s gender and pick five personality traits from a list of 12 that they want their baby’s name to represent. The site then generates three possible baby names for parents to choose from. The shortlist also includes the name’s meaning and a famous person who has that na...