Google has confirmed it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US, after an executive order from US president Donald Trump.
It will remain the Gulf of Mexico in Mexico, while users outside of the US and Mexico will see both names on Google Maps.
The Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, will also be changed to Mount McKinley in the US in line with Mr Trump’s executive order on January 20th.
“We have a long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government,” said Google in a post on X.
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Explaining the different labels for the gulf in the US, Mexico and the rest of the word, Google added: “When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too.”
The US president ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office, 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.
Google said it would update its Maps service once the names were updated in the US government’s geographic names information system.
Reacting to Mr Trump’s pledge shortly before his inauguration to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, jokingly suggested this month that North America, including the US, should be renamed as well. She suggested América Mexicana, or Mexican America, because an 1814 founding document that preceded Mexico’s constitution used that name.
Mr Trump said this month that the name Gulf of America had a “beautiful ring”.
“It’s appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country,” he said.
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 name Persian Gulf from Google Maps and leave the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula nameless.
The body of water is now labelled “Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)” in other countries. – Guardian
