Google Maps Officially Renames Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’

Weeks after US President Trump signed the executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’, Google Maps has followed suit. As of now, the app reflects the name, change in Canada, the US, and other global regions.

As first reported by Engadget, Google has published a blog post explaining the hastiness of the name change. According to the company, the Gulf of America name was quickly implemented as the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) officially reflected the name change. Google explains that its internal policy dictates that it must wait for official government resources to update name changes before doing so itself. Google has a “longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the company said on X (formerly Twitter) last month.

As noted by Google, if you’re a Canadian user of Google Maps, you’ll notice that the body of water is now named the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America). However, in the US, Google Maps only shows the Gulf of America. Similarly, for users in Mexico, the label exclusively highlights the Gulf of Mexico. For other global users of Google Maps, the dual name label will be shown. Interestingly enough, Trump’s executive order also issued the renaming of Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, to Mount McKinley. However, this has yet to be reflected in Google Maps as of the time of writing.

Google has used similar naming conventions for other locations around the world. For instance, the body of water spanning between Saudia Arabia and Iran is listed as the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf) for those in Iran. However, for users in Arab countries, Google Maps labels the location as the Arabian Gulf.