President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Inauguration Day that will change the Gulf of Mexico title to the Gulf of America within 30 days.
This decision is facing opposition from Mexican officials who feel that renaming the Gulf violates international agreements and historical naming conventions. Google Maps has responded that they will display the name Gulf of America for users in the United States, and keep the Gulf of Mexico for users in Mexico. For users in other countries, both names will be displayed.
The Gulf of Mexico, a 218,000-square-mile oceanic basin connected to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, spans the eastern coast of Mexico and the southeastern coast of the United States. European explorers and mapmakers have used the name the Gulf of Mexico for at least 400 years.
Google shared on X that it will update the name once the change has taken place with the U.S. National Geographic Names System, which could take months to years.
Trump shared that his desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico came from his contention that Mexico has allowed undocumented migrants to flow into the United States unfettered.
The Associated Press, a global nonprofit cooperative that reports and shares news for its member outlets, is in support of bringing back the name Mount Mckinley. However, they are against changing the Gulf of Mexico.
Amanda Barrett, AP’s vice president of standards and inclusion said, “The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.”
On Jan. 24, the U.S. Department of Interior shared, “The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use.”
President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, shared that she will be sending Google a letter regarding the company’s decision to soon change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
“To change the name of an international sea, it is not a country that changes it. It is an international organization that does this. So, we are sending this letter to Google today,” Sheinbaum said in a press conference, according to a translation by Al Jazeera.
Soon after Trump’s executive order, Sheinbaum took a dig at his proposal and pondered during a news briefing if North America should be renamed to “Mexican America,” citing a founding document from 1814 that precedes Mexico’s constitution.
With this change set to take place, many are wondering if it is possible to change the “Gulf of America” name on a mobile device. Since Google Maps uses a significant amount of dynamically loaded content, it is difficult to manipulate the text, however, it is possible to revert the name on a desktop browser with certain extensions.
