January 27, 2025 – Google Maps will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System, Google announced in an X post on January 27. The change will be visible to users in the United States, while in Mexico, the name will remain Gulf of Mexico. Outside of these two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.
The Trump administration’s Interior Department confirmed on January 24 that it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and North America’s tallest peak, Denali, to Mount McKinley. President Donald Trump ordered these name changes as part of a series of executive actions taken hours after his inauguration on January 20, fulfilling a campaign promise.
“As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Interior Department stated last week.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum humorously suggested earlier in January that North America, including the United States, be renamed Mexican America, referencing a historic name used on an early map of the region.
A Google spokesperson, when reached for comment, referred Reuters to the company’s X post. Google has applied similar locale-based labeling conventions to other locations with naming disputes. For instance, the body of water between Japan and South Korea is listed as the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on Google Maps.
In 2012, Iran threatened legal action against Google for dropping the term “Persian Gulf” from its maps, leaving the waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula nameless. The body of water is now labeled Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf) in other countries.