A TEENAGER has made £48,000 after creating a website that has helped more than 200,000 Chinese parents choose English names for their babies.

Beau Jessup, 16, from Edge near Painswick, came up with the idea for specialname.cn after being asked to name a family friend's child on a trip to China.

There is a huge demand for the service because many Chinese want their children to have a Western pseudonym.

They believe having a traditional English name, which is easy to pronounce, read and write, will increase their chance of getting jobs and university places abroad.

But restricted access to the internet in China means citizens are unable to use standard baby-naming websites that many people use in the UK.

Beau - an A-level student at Cheltenham Ladies' College - said that has resulted in some parents accidentally picking daft names for their kids like Rolex, Cinderella, Rambo and Gandalf.

Her unique website allows expectant parents to pick culturally-appropriate English names for their children - at just 60p a go.

Beau said 221,000 people have used Specialname since it launched six months ago - already earning her a cool £48,000.

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 helpChinese people get it right from the start."

Specialname relies on the Chinese tradition of creating unique name for children.

The site invites parents to select from a list of 12 personality traits - including sensitive, honest, creative and clever - to match their aspirations for their child.

Three shortlisted names are then presented, along with their meaning and a famous namesake such as Grace Kelly or Catherine Middleton.

Parents can share the options with friends and family via messaging app We-Chat - the Chineseequivalent to WhatsApp - so they can help make the final choice.

The naming service costs 60p for three names and take just three minutes to complete.

After making their choice, users are sent a naming certificate to keep forever.

Parents are also encouraged to post their baby picture on the website's gallery.

The site has grown organically, now averaging 27,000 visitors and earning £16,000 in sales per month.

Beau said she is proud to help, and added that she intends to use the cash she's made to pay for her university fees.

She said: "There are babies being born every day and they all need a Special Name.

"I like the idea of providing a service that enhances such a happy occasion.

"I have a target to reach which will allow me to pay for my university fees and writing the text for the site was really good practice for my Mandarin GCSE.

"I spend two hours a day talking to my customers asking how I can make the service better and about an hour making improvements.

"Since parents love sharing photos of their babies, I have recently added a gallery, so I'm gradually building a Specialname community."

Specialname user Songbu Wang, who chose her son's English name using the service, after being said she used the site to increase her son's life chances.

"My friends told me Specialname was very useful, so I decided to have a try," she said.

"I chose Nathan because it sounds strong, what's more, I have seen the definition from my Specialname certificate; Nathan means 'generous'.

"I think a good man should be generous, then women will like him. I hope my son isn't a jealous guy."

"I think English name can influence my child's life," she added.

"I hope he can have more opportunities to learn English, to work with foreigners or go aboard to open his eyes.

"I think no matter working or studying or making friends with foreigners, a good English name is a good start."

More than 17 million babies are born every year in China, and to date Beau has named nearly 221,000.

The country remains the biggest in the world with a population of over 1.3billion people.