GoKawiilGoogle on Saturday changed its Maps software to comply with President Donald Trump’s order designating Lake Ontario as Lake America.
In a blog post, Google explained that the renaming — which is already in effect — would only appear to users in the US. “Those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the US and Canada will see both names,” the company said.
So far, Apple Maps, Microsoft’s Bing Maps and MapQuest have not made the change. CNET has reached out to Microsoft and Apple for comment. Neither company has stated publicly how soon it might change its maps to show Lake America.
It may feel like a familiar situation: It’s the Gulf of America all over again.
Last year, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as part of an executive order. Now, in the middle of a trade war with Canada, he’s going back to the same playbook by issuing an order to rename Lake Ontario.
As happened last year, this is likely to affect how the region is labeled on Apple Maps and Bing Maps in addition to Google’s revision. It took several weeks, but eventually all three ended up labeling the gulf differently based on the change in the Geographic Names Information System, the US government’s national naming standard.
One holdout was MapQuest, which already said it will not change the name of Lake Ontario in its software. In a cheeky post on X, the company said, “We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” inviting people to craft their own personalized names. It was accompanied by a screenshot showing “Lake Are We Doing This Again?”
We're not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure: https://t.co/E2I0Ezd57W
(tag us so we can see your work 🙂) pic.twitter.com/x8lIAMt6ab — MapQuest (@MapQuest) August 27, 2026
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