Google fell in line with Donald Trump’s executive order by changing the name of Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ on Monday (Feb 10) for those using its Maps application in the United States.

Advertisment

Google announces change of name

In a blog post, the tech giant wrote it has officially updated the name of ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’ in the US.

Also read | Trump officially renames Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' in US: Will it catch on internationally?

Advertisment

“People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Gulf of America,’ and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ Everyone else will see both names,” Google wrote.

Image shared by Google.
Image shared by Google. Photograph: (https://blog.google/)

 Earlier on January 27, Google stated in an X post, “We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”

Advertisment

Google said that the change of name aligns with the the Geographic Names Information System, the official US government geographic designations.

Also read | Google Maps to rename Gulf of Mexico as ‘Gulf of America’ for US users

Glitch in the (gulf) matrix?

Some social media users have reported seeing a glitch in Google maps while viewing the gulf. A user from Kentuckey shared a video where the map shows the name ‘Gulf of America’ when it is zoomed out. However, it changed to ‘Gulf of Mexico’ when he zooms in. 

“Google can’t decide if it’s the Gulf of America or the Gulf of Mexico,” the user wrote on X.

Also read | 'Gulf of America' or 'Gulf of Mexico': How Google deals with controversial geography

Trump's orders on renaming locations spark controversy

The Trump administration’s Interior Department announced on Friday (Jan 24) that it has officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The move was authorised by President Donald Trump.

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America is not the only executive order that Trump has signed. Trump has also signed an order to revert the name of the highest peak in the US, Denali, back to its former moniker Mt. McKinley.

Also read | Mexico to write to Google for changing Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' on its maps

In 2015, then-president Barack Obama officially renamed the Alaska mountain to Denali, the name used by the natives for centuries. 

Trump’s renaming of the peak has sparked a backlash from the Indigenous groups in Alaska while changing the name of the gulf has drawn diplomatic tensions with Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum mocked Trump by suggesting to call the United States “Mexican America,” pointing to an older map before one-third of her country was seized by the US in 1848.

(With inputs from agencies)