Washington DC:
The “Gulf of Mexico” will be shown as the “Gulf of America” to Google Maps users in the United States after the name change ordered by the Trump Administration is officially updated on the federal mapping database, the Alphabet-owned company announced on Monday.
The move complies with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last week that changed the names of several American landmarks. Following the order, the US Department of the Interior said the name changes were official and America’s Geographic Names System was working “expeditiously” to fulfil the President’s order.
“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” Google wrote in a post on X.
We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps. We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) January 27, 2025
The new name will reportedly be visible to Google Maps users in America, but the name will remain “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.
Trump’s Renaming Spree
Per the Interior Department, the name of the Gulf of Mexico has been officially changed to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, has been renamed Mount McKinley.
Google Maps, which is owned by Alphabet’s Google, will make a similar change with Mount McKinley. The Alaskan mountain was named Mount McKinley in 1917 to honour America’s 25th president, William McKinley, However, it was renamed Denali during the Obama administration in 2015.
President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office on January 20, making good on a campaign promise.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed “Mexican America” – a historic name used on an early map of the region.
Google’s Naming Policy
Google has applied the same locale-based labelling conventions to other locations subject to naming disputes. Outside Japan and South Korea, the body of water bordering both nations is listed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea).”
In 2012, Iran threatened to take legal action against Google over its decision to drop the term “Persian Gulf” from its Google Maps and leave the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula nameless. The body of water is now labelled “Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)” in other countries.
