Google Maps now labels Lake Ontario as Lake America for people using the app in the United States, the company said Saturday, two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the Great Lake.
Google said it follows official U.S. place names in the Geographic Names Information System. “People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names,” the company said in a blog post cited by Reuters.
Trump signed the order Thursday amid a trade fight with Canada that has produced new tariffs on both sides. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Board on Geographic Names to update the federal database, Forbes reported. The order does not bind Canada or other countries.
How the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Lake Ontario/Lake America name change in the US will appear on Google Maps pic.twitter.com/nFw80TwaqH
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) August 30, 2026
Ontario Premier Doug Ford compared the renaming to a Saturday Night Live sketch and said the lake will still be called Lake Ontario, The New York Times reported. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the name is more than 400 years old and comes from a Wendat word meaning a beautiful, big lake, according to 9to5Google. Ford’s government also put up a shoreline message reading “Lake Ontario. Now and forever.”
The Independent reported critics accused Google of “bending the knee” to Trump. MapQuest said it would not change the name. Wired reported Apple Maps and Bing had not yet switched as of Sunday.
Google made a similar change last year after Trump directed federal agencies to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. The company said the Lake America update follows its long-standing policy for waters that have different official names in different countries.
The Seneca Nation in New York called on Trump to rescind the order, saying the historic name reflects Indigenous people on both sides of the border, The Independent reported.
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