Google Maps has changed the Gulf of Mexico’s name to the Gulf of America for people using the app in the US.
Explaining the name change, Google said it was making the change as part of “a longstanding practice” of following name changes when updated by official government sources.
It said the Gulf, which is bordered by the US, Cuba and Mexico – would not be changed for people using the app in Mexico, and users elsewhere in the world will see the label: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
It comes after President Donald Trump ordered the body of water to be renamed in US government documents after he returned to office last month.
Apple has followed suit, also changing the name to the Gulf of America in its map app for users in the US. Bloomberg reported that the change would be rolled out globally at a later date.
Mexico has decried the move, arguing that the US had no legal right to change the Gulf’s name.
The change was made by Google on Monday after the Geographic Names Information System, a US government database run by the Interior Department, listed an update to the Gulf’s name.
The listing reads: “The Gulf of America, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, with an average depth 5300 ft is a major body of water bordered and nearly landlocked by North America with the Gulf’s eastern, northern, and northwestern shores in the U.S. and its southwestern and southern shores in Mexico.”
It said the change was made in accordance with Trump’s executive order to “restore names that honor American Greatness”.
Following the signing of the order, President Trump proclaimed February 9 as “Gulf of America Day”.
“I call upon public officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities,” a White House statement said.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum had asked Google to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
She argued the US could not legally change the Gulf’s name because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dictates that an individual country’s sovereign territory only extends up to 12 nautical miles out from the coastline.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press, a global media organisation, said that it would not change the name of the Gulf of Mexico in its style guide – which is used by most US media outlets.
Because of the style guide decision, the White House said it was barring an AP reporter from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office.
“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” AP’s Executive Editor Julie Pace said in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”
Trump’s executive order, signed on 20 January, also ordered North America’s tallest mountain – Denali – be called Mount McKinley, which was its name previously.
That change is not yet reflected on Google Maps, though the AP has adopted the mountain’s old name in its style guide.
Google has also made changes to its default events in calendars, removing references for several holidays and cultural events including Pride and Black History Month, which used to appear automatically. The issue has gained online attention this week, but Google said it made the change last year.
The tech company said in a statement that “maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t scalable or sustainable”.
“So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments,” the company said.
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