Google has said it will make the change in line with US President Donald Trump’s executive order, but users in Mexico will still see the Gulf of Mexico.
Google has said it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US, following an executive order by US President Donald Trump.
One of Trump’s first orders after taking office last week was to officially change the name of the body of water which stretches from Florida to Cancun, and to rename the Alaskan peak Denali — the tallest mountain in North America — to Mount McKinley.
Google said on Monday that the body of water will appear as Gulf of America for Google Maps users in the US, but remain the Gulf of Mexico in Mexico. Users in the rest of the world will see both names. The company also said that Mount Denali would appear as Mount McKinley for its US users.
“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government,” Google said in a post on X.
“When official names vary between countries, (Google) Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too.”
The changes will happen once the US government updates its official listings for the body of water and the mountain, according to the company.
Earlier this month — before his 20 January inauguration — Trump outlined his intention to rename the Gulf of Mexico and said the Gulf of America had “a beautiful ring (to it)”.
During his inaugural address last week, Trump brought up the plan once again.
“America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” he said at the time.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum mocked Trump’s vow in early January and suggested sarcastically that North America should be renamed “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America” because a founding document dating from 1814 that preceded Mexico’s constitution referred to it in that manner.
Trump said he would change Mount Denali’s name to its previous name, Mount McKinley, as a tribute to former US President William McKinley. Denali is the mountain’s preferred name among Native Americans in Alaska, and it was given that title in 2015 by then-US President Barack Obama’s administration as a gesture of recognition.
Additional sources • AP
