Google Maps to rename ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’ for US users

Google Maps will change the name of “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System, it said in an X post on Monday.

The change will be visible in the US, but it will remain “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names.

The Trump administration’s Interior Department said on Friday it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.

Google Maps, which is owned by Alphabet’s Google, will make a similar change with Mount McKinley.

Name change ordered by Trump

US President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office last Monday, making good on a campaign promise.

“As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America, and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Interior Department said in a statement last week.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed “Mexican America” – a historic name used on an early map of the region.

Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson referred Reuters to the company’s X post.

Google has applied the same locale-based labeling conventions to other locations subject to naming disputes.

Outside of Japan and South Korea, the body of water bordering both nations is listed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea).”

In 2012, Iran threatened to take legal action against Google over its decision to drop the term “Persian Gulf” from its Google Maps and leaving the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula nameless. The body of water is now labeled “Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)” in other countries.