Google Maps began displaying “Lake America” in place of Lake Ontario for US users in late August 2026, making it the first major online maps provider to reflect President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the easternmost of the Great Lakes.
Trump issued the order on Thursday, August 28, as part of an ongoing dispute over tariffs with Canada — the country whose capital province shares the lake’s original name. The renaming follows a similar executive order Trump issued in January 2025 directing that the Gulf of Mexico be called the Gulf of America amid a separate trade conflict with Mexico.
Google’s update came days after the executive order, once federal records maintained by the US Department of the Interior began reflecting the new name. The same pattern played out with the Gulf of America renaming, when Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other map providers adopted the change shortly after the government’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database was updated.
Apple Maps and Bing Maps had not yet reflected the Lake America change as of Sunday morning, though both are expected to follow. The GNIS database itself still showed “Lake Ontario” as of that same morning, with a note indicating updates were in progress.
While private map providers are not legally required to follow official government naming databases, they generally do. What name a user sees depends on their location. “People using Maps in the US will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the US and Canada will see both names,” Google said in a statement.
Not all providers are following suit. MapQuest stated on social media that “we’re not changing it.” OpenStreetMap, whose technology powers apps including Uber and Lyft, has opted to recognize both names and lets organizations using its maps choose which to display.
Source: WIRED