u/VarrenSable

I was talking to an Italian coworker recently and he mentioned his brother Andrea.

For about half a second my brain went "wait, brother?" because every Andrea I've ever met has been a woman.

Then HE was confused when Nicola Coughlan came up, because apparently Nicola immediately reads male to him.

Now I've fallen down this rabbit hole of names that don't just get pronounced differently in another language, they basically change gender at customs.

Andrea. Nicola. Sasha can land very differently depending on where you are. Angel surprised me too.

I'm not really talking about names like Alex that already feel broadly unisex in English. I'm curious about names that feel overwhelmingly male in one country and overwhelmingly female somewhere else.

What are the best examples you know?

Please include the country/language because that's honestly the most interesting part.

This has saved me from a couple of pointless recruiter calls lately.

If a company posts a role with no salary range, I search:

"[company name]" "[exact job title]" California

Then I try Colorado, New York, Washington, etc.

A surprising number of larger companies have basically the same position posted in multiple states, except one version actually includes the pay range.

Sometimes the title changes slightly, so the requisition ID is even better if the posting has one.

Obviously you have to account for location differences. I'm not assuming a Seattle range means they'll pay the exact same amount in Ohio.

But it gives you WAY more information than "competitive salary."

Last week I found a role with no comp listed in my state. Same company, same level, almost identical responsibilities in another state: $92k-$118k.

Recruiter asked me for my expectations on the first call. Suddenly I wasn't guessing from Glassdoor and vibes.

I've also found duplicate listings where the lower-paying location quietly had a narrower range, which tells you something before you spend an hour applying.

Not perfect, but it takes maybe two minutes.

If the company won't show you the number, sometimes another version of their own job posting will.