British teen names over 200,000 Chinese babies

A 16-year-old British student has made over $60,000 helping Chinese parents give their babies English names, the BBC reports. Beau Jessup was visiting China when her friends there asked her to name their baby, which gave her the idea for her website; in China, babies often get an "English" name for studying or doing business abroad when they grow older.

But for many Chinese families, picking a name is difficult, especially because they don't have access to many English baby-name websites. "These names that we would see [as] 'stripper' names [are given to] really smart young women. So, I've heard a lot of people laughing about the 'Candy' and the 'Cherry' ... 'Sapphire,' 'Twinkle,'" Lindsay Jernigan, who started her own similar naming service, explained to NPR in 2015.

Still, some children end up named Billboard, Popeye, or Robin Hood, something Jessup attributes to the presence of those types of words in pop culture. "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," the teen said.

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Jessup's website, Special Name, costs parents about 80 cents to use. The parents select the baby's gender and pick personality traits, and are then messaged three name choices, including an example of a famous person with the name.

At this point, Jessup has named over 200,000 babies. "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," Jessup said.