Users will see the new name once a federal mapping database updates the changes, the tech giant has said
Google Maps will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America once the new name is updated in the US government’s Geographic Names System, the company said in an X post on Monday.
Google Maps will also return the name of the Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, to its pre-2015 name of Mount McKinley.
“We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps. We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” Google said on X.
The update will be visible as Gulf of America within the US, while in Mexico the name will remain the Gulf of Mexico.
“When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names,” Google said on X, describing this as a long-standing practice.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week authorizing the renaming aimed at honoring “American Greatness.” The US Interior Department confirmed the changes on Friday and said it was working to update the Geographic Names Information System.
“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.
The mountain in Alaska will return to the name it held from 1917 to 2015, before then-US President Barack Obama restored its original native name. ‘McKinley’ bears the name of the 25th US president, William McKinley, who led the country to victory in the Spanish-American War in 1898.
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The Gulf of Mexico, an oceanic basin linked to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, stretches along the eastern coast of Mexico, the southeastern coast of the US, and the western edge of Cuba. The name Gulf of Mexico has been used by European explorers and mapmakers for over 400 years.
Earlier this month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested renaming North America, including the US, as ‘Mexican America’, referencing a historical name featured on an early map of the region.
After Trump ordered changes to the map last week, tech billionaire and political ally Elon Musk chimed in, jokingly suggesting that the US also rename the English Channel to ‘the George Washington Channel’ in honor of the first American president.
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