Google has updated Maps to display 'Lake America' for users in the United States while retaining 'Lake Ontario' in Canada and showing both names elsewhere, reflecting President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the smallest of the five Great Lakes. The change mirrors Google's 2025 relabeling of the Gulf of Mexico as the 'Gulf of America.'
The company cited its practice of using names assigned by the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the federal database governing official US geographic names. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the order on Thursday; Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a lakeside sign reading 'Lake Ontario: Now and Always' in English and French.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and other provincial websites that pull map data from Google briefly displayed 'Lake America.' Ontario Minister Stephen Crawford said the province is reviewing its sites to restore 'Lake Ontario.' New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Vermont Governor Phil Scott publicly opposed the renaming.
Indigenous leaders including Grand Chief Pierre Picard of the Wendat Nation condemned the change, calling it an attempt to 'erase our history.' Ontario ministry officials are auditing government websites that source map data from Google, and MapQuest has declined to rename the lake.