Google Maps is under plan to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" as the "Gulf of America" for  google-users in the United States. The update will take place once the name is officially changed in the U.S. Geographic Names System, the company announced on Monday, January 27, 2025, through social media post "X" (formerly Twitter).

The company said that it has a long-standing practice of updating names in Google Maps based on changes in official government sources. This renaming will only apply to U.S. users. In Mexico, the name will remain "Gulf of Mexico," and for users outside the U.S. and Mexico, both names will appear on the map.

U.S. Interior Department Officially Changes Gulf Name

Last week, the United State Department of the Interior confirmed that the Gulf of Mexico would now officially be called the Gulf of America. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names has been working quickly to make the change in the Geographic Names Information System.

In addition to this, federal officials announced that North America’s highest mountain, Denali in Alaska, will be renamed back to Mount McKinley. This mountain's name has been debated for years, as the Obama administration renamed it Denali in 2015 to honor the name used by Native Alaskans.

Google Maps also announced that it would reflect this change, renaming Denali back to Mount McKinley for its users.

Trump’s Role in the Name Change

Former U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America shortly after his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, while responding to the change, joked earlier this month about renaming North America as "Mexican America," referencing an old map that used the historic term.    it reads - For us, it'll always be the Gulf of Mexico, and for the rest of the world, it remains the Gulf of Mexico. 

What happened back in 2012! 

Iran was so upset with Google that it threatened to take them to court. What was the reason? Google had decided to remove the name "Persian Gulf" from its maps. The Persian Gulf is the body of water between Iran and the Arabian peninsula. But Google did not give it a name anymore. To fix the problem, Google later added both names - "Persian Gulf" and "Arabian Gulf" - to its maps in some countries.