By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
The Gulf of Mexico has been renamed the Gulf of America for U.S. users on Google Maps, following an executive order by former President Donald Trump.
The name change has sparked debate, with Google confirming that it reflects updates from official government sources.
“For users in the U.S., the body of water is now labeled ‘Gulf of America.’ Users in Mexico will continue to see ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ while users elsewhere will see both names,” Google said in a statement on Monday.
This change is part of a broader initiative during Trump’s presidency to restore historical U.S. names.
The same executive order also called for Alaska’s tallest mountain, Denali, to be renamed Mount McKinley—its previous name until 2015, when former President Barack Obama renamed it to honor Alaska’s Indigenous heritage.
As of Tuesday, the mountain’s name on Google Maps remained unchanged.
The executive order described the renaming as a way to celebrate “American greatness” and criticized the 2015 name change as an insult to President William McKinley’s legacy, emphasizing his role in promoting tariffs and defending U.S. values.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S.
Coast Guard have already begun updating official charts and documents to reflect the new names.
“We are currently revising our data to incorporate the name change from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America,” the FAA said in a statement.
The move has drawn mixed reactions, with some seeing it as a patriotic gesture, while others question the necessity of renaming landmarks with significant historical and cultural meaning.
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