It’s official: Google has renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on its Maps interface.
At least for people using the app or website in the U.S.
On Monday, the tech giant announced it had changed the basin’s name, reflecting the most recent update from the country’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
That change was initiated by an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump hours after being sworn in, instructing the department of the interior to make it so.
In keeping with its “longstanding practices”, Google explained that what app users see will depend on their country location, which is determined by their device’s operating system, SIM, network and current location. Desktop and other web viewers are presented information based on regional search settings “or your device’s location, if you haven’t selected one.”
“People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Gulf of America,’ and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico,’” Google wrote in a statement.
Everyone else will see Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).
That too, the company stated in a thread on X in late January, has been a longstanding procedure.
On Sunday, as Air Force One was passing over the gulf on its way to the Super Bowl, Trump proudly signed a proclamation in front of journalists aboard the aircraft declaring Feb. 9 to be “the first ever Gulf of America Day.”
“As my Administration restores American pride in the history of American greatness, it is fitting and appropriate for our great Nation to come together and commemorate this momentous occasion,” his decree reads.
Also Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had begun revising data and charts to reflect the name change and that of Mount Denali to Mount McKinley, another Day 1 directive from Trump to be completed within 30 days.
When GNIS updates its designation for North America’s highest peak, Google has said it will follow suit. However, a Google Maps query for Mount McKinley brings users directly to the Alaskan peak, which is still labelled Denali.
In an email to the National Post, a GNIS spokesperson said the modification should be “complete before the end of the time period given in the (Executive Order).”
Meanwhile, in testing other web and app-based mapping services from a Canadian address, Apple Maps users continue to see the Gulf of Mexico and a search for the new American name comes up empty.
Microsoft’s Bing Maps still shows the original title and a query for Gulf of America yields the whole of the United States as a result.
It hasn’t changed on MapQuest either, where searching for the other designation brings one to Gulf Beach Shores in southern Alabama.
The National Post has contacted all three asking if any changes to the labelling are forthcoming.
There are other locations around the world where two places have the same name on Google Maps for users from outside those countries.
For instance, the British see the Falkland Islands while Argentinians see the South American island chain as Islas Malvinas. Everyone else gets the English name first, the other in parentheses.
The same style applies to the long-disputed Persian or Arabian Gulf separating Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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