An updated Google map shows “Gulf of America” where before it said “Gulf of Mexico” in this photo illustration in San Anselmo, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2025.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The Gulf of Mexico is still, for the vast majority of the world’s people, the Gulf of Mexico.
But on Monday, Google Maps changed its label for the sea to “Gulf of America” for United States users, acquiescing to the whim of President Donald Trump. The move rankled a chunk of Maps’ user base, who poured negative reviews — all of them blocked from public visibility — onto the location’s marker.
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Trump ordered the gulf’s name to be changed on Jan. 20, the first day of his new term, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed his staff on Friday to make the swap in the federal government’s official naming system. An official map on an Interior Department website was updated Tuesday, but Google — whose Maps app is one of the world’s most popular tech products — was quicker to the punch.
Google Maps’ labels vary depending on where you use the app. In the U.S., users now see “Gulf of America.” In Mexico, it still reads as “Gulf of Mexico” (“Golfo de México” in Spanish). And in the rest of the world, users will see the both-sidesey “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).” Google Maps’ peers — Apple Maps, Bing and MapQuest — had not changed their labels as of Tuesday morning. (Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Apple would soon roll out its own name switch.)
In a brief blog post on Monday, the Mountain View company wrote that changing the name to align with the U.S. government’s Geographic Names Information System reflects “longstanding practices.” Google has not yet changed its label for Mount Denali to Mount McKinley, which was also in Trump’s executive order.
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The company’s explanation didn’t stop a wave of riled-up social media users from complaining about the change and taking part in some old-fashioned “clicktivism.” On social media, dozens of people posted screenshots of the negative reviews they posted on Google Maps’ “Gulf of America” marker — which features a photo of an oil platform.
Some kept it simple, with lines like, “Doesn’t exist, fake news,” and “Mislabeled.” Others were quippier — “Everything was coated in bronzer,” one said. Another user wrote: “What’s next, renaming the Atlantic the Big American Pond?” A reviewer who said he’d grown up by the gulf called the move, “Contemptible. Cowardly.” Several bashed Google for the change, saying it makes the app untrustworthy.
One much-liked post compared the moment to 2003’s “Freedom Fries” saga, when House Republicans changed the name of French Fries in congressional cafeterias due to France’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
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None of these reviews are actually visible on the Maps marker, which says the “newest” of its 7,000-plus reviews was a month ago. Google’s policies say the company removes content that is “not based on a real experience.” A link from Bluesky to one of the reviews said, “This review is no longer available.”
Google did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment or its questions about why the reviews aren’t visible.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s label catches on widely or how teachers in U.S. schools will opt to describe the body of water in geography lessons. The name “Gulf of Mexico” is older than the United States itself, and the next president could easily reverse Trump’s change.
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This news story has been updated.Work at Google or another Bay Area tech company and want to talk? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
