One the first of assuming his duties in the White House, President Donald Trump signed a long list of executive orders. Among them was an order cthat sought to change the names of a few important landmarks.
Titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” the executive order mentioned the renaming of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Google is complying with the change and says the updated name will soon reflect on Google Maps.
The company says it follows a policy of changing the names of locations to match their description in official government datasets, referencing the Geographic Names Information Systems (GNIS) directory.
When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the U.S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America.
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) January 27, 2025
“When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the U.S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America,” the company wrote in an official post of X. The name change has not gone live for users in the US, as of press time.
Notably, the updated name will only appear as Gulf of America to users on U.S. soil, or in regions under the state’s sovereign control. For the rest of the world, they will continue to see it labeled Gulf of Mexico in their map view.
Back in 2009, Google published a policy explainer about naming scenarios where border disputes about overlapping territories and conflicting names arise. It says the company takes into account “guidance from authoritative references, local laws and local market expectations.”
As part of his executive order, Trump ordered the Secretary of Interior to update the GNIS, so that Mount Denali is scrubbed and Mount McKinley takes its place, a bid to honor President McKinley’s legacy.
Likewise, all mention of Gulf of Mexico is to be expunged, and replaced with Gulf of America. “The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past,” says the executive order.
Such a shift is not unheard of. On Google Maps, the Japanese users see “Sea of Japan” for the same water body that appears as “East Sea” for folks in South Korea.
Standardization of geographical names is often a hot tussle and the debates often echo in the halls of the UN, no less.
Back in 2015, Google scrubbed the name of “Zhongsha Islands” from a contested reef area and updated it to Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The marine stretch is a cause of a geopolitical rift between China and the Philippines.
Filipinos petitioned Google to scrub the Chinese name, arguing that it was akin to an illegal territorial grab by the Asian powerhouse.
“We understand that geographic names can raise deep emotions which is why we worked quickly once this was brought to our attention,” a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying by the BBC.
