Google recently renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on their Google Maps application. This development has surprised many people and they are now curious about all the details surrounding this change. This change follows President Donald Trump‘s executive order to rename the location on official government sources.
Google Maps US users can see new Gulf of America
US users using Google Maps will now see the Gulf of America on their map instead of the Gulf of Mexico.
Google released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) mentioning how the company has a consistent practice of applying name changes in accordance with their updates from official government sources.
Google also shared a link to the official website of the Geographical Names Information System (GNIS). The GNIS, which was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is the organization that provides Google Maps the names of the locations on their maps.
Moreover, Google also mentioned that Maps users would see the official local name when it varied between countries, while everyone else around the world would see both names.
This change is following an executive order from President Trump. The change is listed in Section 4 of the order. Here, a brief history of the location and its various features are provided.
However, the Mexican government has come out against this change. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has even written a letter to Google to reconsider the decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
Furthermore, the Gulf of Mexico is not the only map location that has been renamed on Google Maps. Mount Denali of Alaska has now been renamed to Mount McKinley, in honor of the 25th President of the United States William McKinley. Interestingly, McKinley was the mountain’s official name recognized by the federal government, between 1917 and 2015. However, in 2015, President Barack Obama’s administration changed it to Denali.
