Event will live on in 31,420 'World Expos'
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Although the World Expo ends tomorrow, more than 30,000 people in China have a permanent reminder of the record-breaking Shanghai event - they are named "World Expo."
A total of 31,420 citizens have the name "Shibo" - meaning "World Expo" - and most were born between 1999 and 2010, according to the National Citizen Identity Information Center.
The center comes under the Ministry of Public Security and has a database containing the personal information of 1.3 billion people.
Some 30,397 of China's Shibos are male.
Early Shibos may be explained by the fact that in 1999 China made the decision to bid for the 2010 World Expo.
The first nine months of this year were the most popular for the name to date, with 6,247 babies named "Shibo."
However, even though Shanghai has hosted the World Expo - which has been the most popular Expo ever, attracting more than 70 million visitors - only 82 children in the city are named "Shibo."
Shibo is most popular in the central province of Henan, the country's most populous region, where 10,537 children have the name.
The capital city of Beijing has 255 people with the name, including 16 girls.
Zhu Qingjun, a psychologist and professor at the Beijing Film Academy, attributed the name's popularity in Henan, geographically China's center, to the local tradition of paying a lot of attention to big events.
In addition, both the characters "shi" and "bo" are traditionally used in Chinese names, especially for boys, as they have auspicious meanings.
"Shi" refers to "world," "lifetime," or "generation," while "bo" is linked to "prosperous," "vast" or "knowledgeable," Zhu told a Beijing newspaper.
Chinese people sometimes add abbreviations of important national events or moments to their names to reflect pride in their nation, she added.
"Shi" is also a family name in China but only six people with the last name nationwide were given the name "Bo."
Zhu said if the name was given in 2009 and 2010, it was done with the specific intent of welcoming and commemorating the World Expo. She said that this is what happens when people "follow a trend."
A similar phenomenon was reported during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when more than 3,000 citizens were given the name "Aoyun," meaning "Olympics." Most were born after 2000, when Beijing was named host city.
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