Google Maps now shows Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ for users in the US after the US Geographic Names Information System formally changed the lake’s name
Google Maps has changed the name of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for users in the United States, following US President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating the change, CNN reported.
According to CNN, the change came after the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) formally changed the lake’s name in the United States.
“The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ in the United States,” Google said in a statement on Saturday (local time), according to CNN.
“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America ‘; those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,'” the company added.
CNN reported that Google said users outside the US and Canada will see both names, with “Lake America” appearing in parentheses after “Lake Ontario.”
Google said the change follows its “long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.”
Lake Ontario is shared by Canada and the United States and is governed by the Boundary Waters Treaty, which was enacted in the early 20th century to prevent and settle disputes over shared waters.
While Trump has broad authority over how the US governmenA map showing the name Lake America in place of Lake Ontario, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he was changing the name of the smallest of the five Great Lakes, appears on a Google Maps page viewable only to U.S.-based users t refers to geographic landmarks, he cannot compel other countries to adopt the same terminology.
Meanwhile, alternatives to Google Maps, including Waze and Apple Maps, continued to identify the body of water as “Lake Ontario” as of Sunday afternoon, according to CNN. MapQuest also said in a social media post, “We’re not changing it.”
Earlier on Saturday (local time), the diplomatic rift between Washington and Ottawa reached new heights of symbolic defiance. Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a massive billboard-style sign along the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, delivering a firm rejection of US President Donald Trump’s unilateral decree renaming the shared body of water “Lake America,” reported CBC News.
Standing near the shoreline in Grimsby, Ontario, Ford revealed the 24-by-12-foot structure, which reads: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” in both English and French. The sign also says in French “Lac Ontario – Aujourd’hui et pour toujours.”
“I’m here on the shores of beautiful Lake Ontario, a crown jewel of our province and our country,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a short video message posted on X.
Trump first threatened to rename Lake Ontario during an escalating war of words with Ford. The two exchanged insults, with the premier calling the president a bully, among other things, and Trump saying the premier was a “less charismatic, intelligent” version of his late brother, Rob Ford.
It will remain Lake Ontario “now and forever,” Ford told reporters Saturday in the small lakeside community on the outskirts of Hamilton.
“President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you that the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario,” he said. “We’re resilient, and we’re strong Canadians.”
This comes after President Trump earlier signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to update federal maps and databases to call Lake Ontario “Lake America” within the United States.
The move is the latest in an escalating economic and political standoff between the two neighbours. The Trump administration recently imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about USD 20 billion worth of Canadian goods, prompting Prime Minister Mark Carney to announce retaliatory tariffs on US exports. After trade talks broke down, Trump turned to cartographic leverage, citing trade frustrations as the main reason for the name change.
The executive order followed a similar move last year by the administration to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”, with Google Maps subsequently reflecting the change for US users.
While the U.S. executive order applies to American federal mapping agencies, it has no authority over Canadian territory or international hydrographic standards. Canadian leaders across party lines, along with U.S. state officials, have largely dismissed or rejected the change.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pushed back on social media, citing the 400-year-old Indigenous Wendat origin of the name Ontario, meaning “beautiful lake” or “big lake.” He noted the name predates both the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Canadian Confederation, saying: “Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always.”
US state officials, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose state borders the lake, said they would not adopt the new name, calling the move absurd amid pressing economic and trade concerns for agricultural exporters.
Indigenous leaders, including Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard, condemned the renaming as an attempt to erase historical and cultural roots.
Premier Ford said the name change was a reaction to Canada’s firm stance in the trade dispute. In a video posted on social media, he said the historical name would outlast the political fight: “Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario.
