Google Maps to rename Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' for US users

The change will be visible in the US, but the name will remain Gulf of Mexico in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.

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

FILE PHOTO: Waves crash on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, after newly sworn-in U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, in Boca del Rio, Veracruz state, Mexico January 21, 2025. REUTERS/Yahir Ceballos/File Photo

The change will be visible in the U.S., but the name will remain "Gulf of Mexico" in Mexico. Outside of the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.

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, the tallest mountain in North America, to Mount McKinley.

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

President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office on Jan. 20, 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.