Google Maps will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America – once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System.

The change will be visible in the US, but the ocean hotspot will remain the Gulf of Mexico in Mexico.

Outside of the two countries, users will see both names.

The Trump administration’s Interior Department said on Friday (local time) said it had officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.

Google Maps, which is owned by Alphabet’s Google, will make a similar change with Mount McKinley.

US President Donald Trump ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office last Monday, making good on 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 said in a statement last week.

Earlier this month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum jokingly suggested North America, including the US, be renamed “Mexican America” – a historic name used on an early map of the region.

For geographic features in the U.S., this is when Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated. https://t.co/3NYvU7Bxjq

— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) January 27, 2025

Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson referred Reuters to the company’s X post.

Google has applied the same locale-based labelling conventions to other locations subject to naming disputes.

Outside of Japan and South Korea, the body of water bordering both nations is listed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea)”.

In 2012, Iran threatened to take legal action against Google over its decision to drop the term “Persian Gulf” from its Maps and leaving the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula nameless. The body of water is now labelled “Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)” in other countries.

-AAP