US President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office (file photo). Photo: AFP/ Jim Watson
Google Maps will change the name of "Gulf of Mexico" to "Gulf of America" once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System, Google said in an X post on Monday (local time).
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 change will be visible in the US, but the name will remain "Gulf of Mexico" in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.
The Trump administration's Interior Department said on Friday it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, to Mount McKinley.
Google Maps, which is owned by Alphabet's Google, will make a similar change with Mount McKinley.
President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office on 20 January, making good on a campaign promise.
"As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America's highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley," the Interior Department said in a statement last week.
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.
Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson referred Reuters to the company's X post.
Google has applied the same locale-based labelling conventions to other locations subject to naming disputes.
Outside of 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.
- Reuters
