(Reuters): Google Maps will transform the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America" as soon as the U.S. Geographic Names System formally adopts the new name. The upgrade will be implemented in the United States, but not in Mexico, the business said in a post on X.
The body of water will remain known as the "Gulf of Mexico" to users in Mexico, but Google Maps will display both names for people outside of both nations. This strategy is in line with Google's custom of showing many names for areas that are under dispute.
The U.S. Interior Department, under the Trump administration, announced last Friday that the name change had been officially implemented. Additionally, North America’s tallest mountain, Denali, will revert to its previous name, "Mount McKinley"
Additionally, Google Maps, owned by Alphabet, will change Denali's name to "Mount McKinley" on its platform. In accordance with the formal U.S. government ruling, the company has stated that it will execute the change.
As soon as President Donald Trump took office on January 20, he issued executive orders implementing these measures. He made the change as part of his campaign pledge to give some geographic areas their original names.
In a formal announcement, the U.S. Interior Department confirmed that Denali would once again be referred to as "Mount McKinley" and that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be recognized as the "Gulf of America". This ruling comes after a larger initiative by the new administration to change place names.
In a recent amusing comment regarding the renaming, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested that North America should be renamed "Mexican America" in reference to an old map that had that designation.
A Google representative who was contacted for comment referred questions to the business's official page on X. Similar name conventions have previously been used by Google in accordance with local preferences and governmental regulations.
The body of water between South Korea and Japan, for example, is known as the "Sea of Japan (East Sea)" outside of both nations. This dual-labeling method aims to identify different regional perspectives on names that are under dispute.
Similar problems occurred in 2012 when Iran protested that Google should no longer refer to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula as the "Persian Gulf" on its maps. In order to comply with various naming standards, Google eventually referred to it as the "Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)" in some countries.
