Google has announced it will comply with President Donald Trump’s executive action to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley to its previous name, Denali.
The updates will soon appear on Google Maps, the company confirmed on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
In a post on X, Google explained that it has a “longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”
The company stated that the name updates will reflect once the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), a government database of names and location data, is updated.
The executive action, signed shortly after President Trump’s inauguration, orders the changes as part of a larger initiative to honor American heritage.
The order specifically criticizes the Obama administration’s 2015 renaming of the peak from Denali to Mount McKinley, citing it as an affront to the late President William McKinley’s legacy.
“It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes,” the executive order reads.
The order also highlights McKinley’s role in championing tariffs and his assassination as an attack on the nation’s values and success.
As part of the executive order, Trump directed the official renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The order mandates that all federal government maps and documents reflect this change.
Google clarified that the name changes will only be visible to users within the United States, as “official names vary between countries.”
International users will still see both names on Google Maps, as the company displays local official names depending on the region.