Google Maps Changes ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ After Trump Order

Google Maps has started showing “Lake America” in place of “Lake Ontario” for people using the app inside the United States. The change follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed this week during a trade dispute with Canada.

Google said the map update simply tracks official U.S. government naming data. The company pointed to the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, which it said has formally changed the name for Lake Ontario to Lake America inside the United States.

“The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ in the United States,” Google wrote.

“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.”

The company added that the rollout follows a long-standing policy for bodies of water that carry different names in different countries. Google also said the display change is not a political endorsement.

The same split-label approach appeared in 2025 after Trump directed federal agencies to use “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico. Users outside the United States and Canada saw both names then as well.

Trump previewed the lake change on social media days before the official rename. “So this is Lake Ontario, in Canada and in the United States. But we’re gonna make a little change. 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,” he said.

After marking out the old name, he continued: “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.”

The practical result is a three-way map: “Lake America” in the U.S., “Lake Ontario” in Canada, and both labels everywhere else. How long other mapmakers follow the same official U.S. data is the next question the rename leaves open.