Google Maps

will soon update the name of the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘

Gulf of America

’ once it is officially recognized in the US Geographic Names System, the company announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps. We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the post reads.

This update follows the Donald Trump administration's Interior Department announcement, which officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, along with restoring the name Mount McKinley to the Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America.

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“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.

The name change will be reflected on Google Maps within the US, but "Gulf of Mexico" will remain the designation in Mexico. Globally, users will see both names displayed on Google Maps. “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,” Google said.
This is not the first time that Google will use locale-based labeling conventions for locations with naming disputes. For instance, outside of Japan and South Korea, the body of water separating the two nations is listed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea).”
Similarly, in 2012, Iran threatened legal action against Google for removing the term "Persian Gulf" from Google 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.