Sweaty and breathless, I often find myself cursing Romania. And sometimes Bulgaria.

Frequently, they’ll stay on my naughty list for several days, until the soreness has subsided.

Yes, Romanian deadlifts and Bulgarian squats are some of the toughest exercises for my legs. Throw in Russian twists and Turkish get-ups, and my core will join to fight all of Eastern Europe.

Each of these methods of gym torture is somehow named for its country. Does this mean everyone in Romania walks around with sore hamstrings? Do they even know about regular deadlifts?

There are plenty of countries known for specific things, often food:

• The French have toast, fries, and dressing (though probably not all at once)
• Italians also have a dressing, plus their unforgettable sausage
• In Spain, you’ve got the rice and the omelet
• The English ONLY get muffins

Things get pretty crazy when you start to mix them, as I did at the gym.

Is it possible to wear a Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts, and a Panama hat? Yes, but it’s not exactly stylish:

Just don’t wear them inside near Venetian blinds or a Persian rug.

Some of these many things named for places may be the actual origin, or possibly a misperception. Either way, they stuck. That’s just good branding, even if it’s accidental.

You can’t always decide what you’re known for, and you don’t always have to embrace it.

(Every souvenir shop in Stockholm long ago gave up and sells Swiss Army Knives, even though Sweden and Switzerland are, you know, different countries altogether).

Even if nothing has yet been named after your dev tool, you’d better figure out how you’re known.

We now have some of the best tools ever to identify this kind of collective wisdom. Have a chat with AI and get a pretty good idea of what devs have shared publicly about your product or competitors.

What are the ways where you are top of mind? And how about where you don’t show up at all?

Identify these gaps and you can use them. For the things that match your strengths, you can lean into and encourage the association. On the other hand, if you don’t like what you see, you can try to change the perception.

You want your brand to be more Swiss watch (reliable and precise) than Swiss cheese (full of holes!)

First, you need to know where you stand: to start, see if your category is already listed on ​LLM Rank.fyi​.

If not, reply here, and I’ll give you an idea of how you show up to devs in LLMs.