Google has changed the name of Lake Ontario on its mapping platform, now displaying "Lake America" to users located in the United States, in accordance with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
A few days after Donald Trump ordered the official renaming of Lake Ontario, Google updated its mapping platform accordingly. American users now see "Lake America" instead of the historical name, while Canadians continue to see "Lake Ontario." Users outside of these two countries see both names simultaneously.
"These updates follow our long-standing policy regarding bodies of water whose names vary by country," Google said in a brief statement, noting that the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is its official reference for this territory.
This is not the first time Google has complied with such a decision by the Trump administration. In 2025, the company had already renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" for its American users, which led Mexico to file a lawsuit against the company.
Lake Ontario takes its name from the Wendat word "Ontari'io," meaning "big and beautiful lake." The Canadian province of Ontario itself adopted this name in reference to the lake. Trump ordered the change amid a tense trade war between Washington and Ottawa, after weeks of failed negotiations. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney justified his country's withdrawal from the talks by citing last-minute changes deemed "unfair and uneconomical," including American objections to French-language labeling laws and French-language content requirements for streaming services in Quebec.
The Canadian reaction was swift. On Saturday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a new sign on the lake's shores, bearing the inscription "Lake Ontario: Now and Forever," in both English and French. "President Trump can call it what he wants, but the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario," he declared.
The name change, however, spilled over north of the border due to an unexpected technical issue. Several Ontario government websites that directly integrate Google Maps data automatically displayed "Lake America," including that of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which had removed American liquors from its shelves in protest against trade practices. Ontario's Minister of Public Services, Stephen Crawford, indicated Sunday evening that provincial authorities were reviewing all of their websites to reinstate the name "Lake Ontario."
Community
Comments
Write a comment
Be the first to comment on this article.