Google issues statement after Trump orders Canadian lake to be renamed 'Lake America'
President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Thursday (August 27) when he revealed his plans to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.
This came as the US leader signed an executive order to make it happen, sharing a map of the Great Lakes which read: “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater.”
Naturally, this has caused quite a stir online and comes just months after Trump controversially decided to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Now, Google has released a blog post which details what this means for world maps.
Can Trump actually change the name of Lake Ontario?
The name for Lake Ontario has been in use since at least 1639, with its name being derived from the Iroquoian word ‘Ontarí’io’, which means ‘great lake’ or ‘lake of shining waters’.
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Despite its history, Trump wants to change this by slapping ‘America’ on the lake and while he does not have the power to do this on a global scale, the executive order will apply to the US part of the lake.
How will Lake Ontario now appear on Google Maps?
According to a blog post by Google, this executive order means that the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has now formally changed the name for Lake Ontario to Lake America within the US.
Google explained: “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," and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names. These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.”
Many people have taken to social media to react to the news, with one user writing on Reddit: “They can call it whatever they want, but it’s still Lake Ontario and it’s still the Gulf of Mexico to anyone with half a brain.”
Another said: “The only thing Trump can do is rename stuff, and even that is tenuous - see Kennedy center.”
A third person commented: “Everyone should be contacting google stating there is an error in their map.”
And a fourth added: “Just because Google was forced to change it doesn't mean the world abides. This is megalomania nonsense.”