Google Maps to change name of Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ after government updates
Google has confirmed that it'll officially change the Gulf of Mexico to the 'Gulf of America' in Maps alongside other controversial changes after executive orders from US President Donald Trump.
United States President Donald Trump has been busy with executive orders since the inauguration on January 20, pushing through a pause for the TikTok ban, creating a working advisory group for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and forging a $500,000,000 AI partnership that might eventually create personalized cancer vaccines.
Among these initial actions though are controversial name changes to both the Gulf of Mexico and Alaskan mountain Denali, changing both of their names to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley respectively.
Trump made his plans to carry these changes out clear in the post-election period, and followed through almost immediately after the inauguration was finished despite much criticism.
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Google, however, appears to be in support having announced their plans to follow Trump's guidance and change both names on their Maps platform, as reported by the Guardian.
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.
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) January 27, 2025
The company explained on X: "We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources," continuing on to state that "when official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names."
Thus, anyone in America would solely see the Gulf of America, Mexican users would solely see the Gulf of Mexico, and everyone else across the world would see both options.
You can see this effect in action by looking at countries whose language isn't based in the Latin alphabet, as they'll have their Latin version and native name underneath.
Some have argued that this is a display of the coalition between the Trump administration and big tech companies, as Google CEO Sundar Pinchai was one of the many billionaire CEOs present at the inauguration.
However, it remains in line with Maps policy and has been reflect in many past instances - especially those that involve global or political conflict.
Many have pushed back against this change on social media, with an almost unilateral agreement that "it will always be the Gulf of Mexico," on the r/Google subreddit.
"Give them an inch, they'll take a mile. That's what this will lead to,! another argues. "Playing into this admin's expansionist plans is beyond stupid."
Despite the ruling being a part of a change in the federal GNIS database, which Google does not control, users have expressed that continuing the change outside of the US is "just pants on head stupid."