Beau Jessup is a 19-year-old from the UK. In 2016, the social anthropology student was just 15 years old when she started a Chinese website called "Special Name" — and it has since made her a fortune.
Having an English name can sometimes be equally important to Chinese people. But because the internet is censored in China, it can be difficult to access websites with English names or obtain email accounts with English letters.
One day, Beau's father's coworker needed help finding the right Western name for her 3-year-old daughter. She wanted her daughter's name to "surprise people with the things she could achieve."
Beau was more than happy to help, and she came up with the perfect name to match the desired characteristics: Eliza, inspired by Eliza Doolittle from the 1956 Broadway musical My Fair Lady.
Then something pretty incredible happened. Beau decided to make a business out of naming Chinese babies, and she started charging about 79 cents per name.
She has since named more than 677,000 babies and has earned enough money to put herself through college …
