After renaming ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’, Google Maps changes name of ‘Lake Ontario’ for users in the US
Google Maps has officially changed its display label for Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for users inside the US, implementing the adjustment in response to a presidential executive order issued late last week. The change mirrors a similar geographic revision enacted in February 2025, when Google Maps altered the designation of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.”In an official blog post, Google explained that the updated naming convention appears differently depending on where the user is browsing from around the world.The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” in the United States. Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see “Lake America,” those in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario,” and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names. These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.
Canada defends historical origins
According to a report by 9to5google, Canadian officials confirmed that their national cartography and official records will retain the historic title without alteration. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney emphasised the centuries-old heritage behind the original phrasing.“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. It comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.’”Meanwhile, competing service MapQuest reportedly stated that it will not adopt the change, rolling out an interactive custom name generator designed to let users invent alternative titles for the lake. Apple Maps has not yet applied the updated wording, though the company previously mirrored Google’s shift to “Gulf of America” within two days during the February 2025 revision.
