Google Maps has made the switch – at least for Americans.
A search on the map app on Sunday, the name “Lake America” will appear for the body of water bordering northern New York and southern Ontario, known until recently – and still to most – as Lake Ontario.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday saying the body of water would “immediately” be renamed “Lake America.” Canadian officials have said they will not recognize the new name.
In a blog post, Google said it changed the name of the lake after the US Geographic Names Information System, the federal government’s official database of place names, did the same.
“Since we updated Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the US, people using Maps in the US will see ‘Lake America,’” the company said.
Canadian users will still see “Lake Ontario,” according to Google. Viewers in the rest of the world will see both names.
As of Sunday, Apple Maps still says “Lake Ontario.” The company did not respond to a request for comment sent Sunday.
Trump made the move in retaliation afterward trade negotiations between the old allies broke down last week. The Trump administration imposed an additional 50% tariff on many Canadian goods on August 22. Canada responded in kind. Trump is now threatening 50% rates on car and steel imports from Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that these tariffs would be “devastating for the US.”
“A tariff on Canada is nothing more than a tax on the American people,” he said.
Many Google Maps users wondered whether the company would follow Trump’s lead after the president announced the change. MapQuest, the original The online mapping service that Google destroyed despite a nearly decade-long head start briefly returned to prominence last week by refusing to change the name of the Great Lake.
“We are not changing it,” the company said in a message. In another case, the company invited users to name the lake “whatever you want.”
The cool “we’re not changing it” message has been viewed more than 5 million times on X. None of the 24 posts on the account in July received more than two likes.
Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister who withdrew from trade talks after saying the United States had made “unfair” last-minute changes, wrote in a post on X that “naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario.”
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontario’io, which appropriately means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” Carney said.
Trump also renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” shortly after returning to office, part of an effort to restore what he called names that honor “American greatness.”
Google, thanks policy to follow GNIS designationsalso now refers to the body of water as the ‘Gulf of America’ on Google Maps.
