The ink has barely dried on President Donald Trump’s order to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, but already Google Maps is reflecting the change for users located in the United States. The order was issued by the president amid a trade dispute with Canada. The company issued a statement concerning the update, stating it reflects official U.S. government naming data and is not an endorsement of the new label.
“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,” Google went on to say in a short blog post.
“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,” the statement continued. The display split follows the same protocol implemented by Google following the 2025 name change President Trump ordered for renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
According to a report from Trending Politics News, outside the U.S. and Canada, both names are available for users. The renaming of Lake Ontario followed a threat by Trump to make the change featured in a post on Truth Social. “So this is Lake Ontario, in Canada and in the United States. But we’re gonna make a little change,” the president wrote.
“We’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario. We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence,” Trump added. After he crossed out the old name, he said, “So Lake Ontario, that’s gone. Lake America. So now we have a lake, and now we have a gulf, because we have the Gulf of America. Now we have Lake America, without the ‘of.’ Thank you very much, everybody. Enjoy Lake America.”
A report from the BBC revealed that the Trump administration is also pushing for Apple to change the name of the Great Lake on its maps. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spoke with Fox News and said that President Trump “has reached out to Apple directly,” going on to add, “I’m sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon.”
The article also stated that the renaming has faced major pushback in Canada, where an electrical utility company issued an apology after showing the Lake America name. The company, Hydro One, which is based in Ontario, stated in a post on X that the name appeared because they use a third-party mapping service. “We are working with our vendor to correct the issue as quickly as possible and restore the proper geographic reference. We regret the error and apologize for any confusion it has caused,” the company said.
"*" indicates required fields
Watch Trump change the name to Lake America here:
⚠️ TDS TRIGGER WARNING: Lake America is officially on the map. 🇺🇸🦅
What’s next? pic.twitter.com/YCQoBXpt79
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 27, 2026