Apple joins Google in venturing into controversial waters.
On Tuesday, Apple Maps changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” The move follows President Donald Trump‘s recent executive order, which he issued amid a trade war with Canada. Earlier Tuesday afternoon, the lake was still called Lake Ontario on the map itself, but some US users could only see “Lake America” as an option when searching for the body of water.
Screenshot of Lake America in Apple Maps Business Insider/Apple
Google Maps, Apple Maps’ main rival, announced on August 29 that it had renamed one of the five Great Lakes in its system “Lake America.” Google’s change, which largely affects American users, has sparked a backlash online.
MapQuest has experienced renewed interest in defying the Trump administration’s wishes, even going so far as to create a template that allows users to name the water whatever they want.
Google has said the naming reflects “name changes in official government sources.” On Google Maps, American users see Lake America. In Canada, users see Lake Ontario. And in the rest of the world, users see Lake Ontario with Lake America in brackets.
Both Google and Apple have previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America’ Trump ordered the change in January 2025.
Following Trump’s executive order, the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) formally changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”
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Trump’s order only applies to the federal government. Private companies, including Apple and Google, individual states and other countries are free to choose their own course.
When Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico, the governors of the states bordering the Gulf, all of whom are Republicans, followed suit. This time, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said her state will continue to call the water lake Lake Ontario.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney scoffed at the idea that the US could rename the lake.
“We know America is changing. Their trade relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney wrote on X. “Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”
The US Geological Survey, part of the Department of the Interior, maintains the information system on behalf of the US Board of Geographic Names, a federal body whose roots date back to the 1890s and is responsible for ensuring the uniform use of names for geographic features across the federal government.
The use of the name “Lake Ontario” dates back more than 300 years. According to the city of Toronto, the largest city on the lake, the name comes from the Wendat (Huron) word Ontarí:io, meaning ‘great lake’, or from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) word Skanadario, meaning ‘beautiful water’.
That was the case in the US referred to by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, a week after the colonies formally declared their independence. Lake Ontario is also mentioned by name the Treaty of Paris of 1783thus ending the war, with King George III’s representatives formally recognizing the newly independent United States.
