Google Maps swaps Lake Ontario to Lake America for US customers

Published On: August 30, 2026

Aug. 30, 2026, 11:38 a.m. ET

Lake Ontario has formally develop into Lake America on Google Maps, a minimum of for customers in the USA.

Google Maps introduced the change on Aug. 29, two days after President Donald Trump signed an government order formally altering the lake’s title inside America.

“Since we replace Google Maps to replicate title adjustments in official authorities sources … folks utilizing Maps within the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ these in Canada will proceed to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and people outdoors of the U.S. and Canada will see each names,” Google posted on its information weblog. “These updates comply with our long-standing coverage for our bodies of water with names that adjust from nation to nation, and are beginning to roll out now.”

Google Maps beforehand acknowledged the Gulf of Mexico’s title change to the Gulf of America.

The place is ‘Lake America’?

The lake borders New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario.

Trump’s current government order famous, “the deepest elements of the Lake’s waters mendacity inside United States territory, the USA claims a lot of the Lake’s quantity.”

Nevertheless, the day the president signed the order, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X: “The title Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat phrase Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is gorgeous, the lake is massive.’ The title is greater than 400 years outdated, predating each the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the USA of America.” Carney added that for Canadians, it might all the time be Lake Ontario.

Why did Lake Ontario’s title change?

In January 2025, Trump signed an government order aimed toward “restoring names that honor American greatness.”

Citing that order and America’s lengthy historical past with and funding in Lake Ontario, the president signed a brand new order on Aug. 27 altering its title to Lake America and directing the Geographic Names Info System to do the identical, which each the U.S. authorities and Google discuss with for maps and documentation.