convert space separated list of names within a file to json formatted json file

I have a space separated list of names generated by a program, I need to convert this list to json. I can not change the program generating the file output. I need to convert the output in file names.txt to json.

example: file output is called names.txt. context is below.

name1 name2 name3

The json expectation is

{
    "names": [
        "name1",
        "name2",
        "name3"
    ]
}

I have boto3 and jq at my disposal.

A jq solution could be simplefied by passing the 'string' as argument, then using split() to create an array like so:

jq -n --arg d "$(cat input)" '{ "names": $d | split(" ") }'

Local example:

$ cat input
name1 name2 name3
$
$ jq -n --arg d "$(cat input)" '{ "names": $d | split(" ") }'
{
  "names": [
    "name1",
    "name2",
    "name3"
  ]
}
$
$