Lake Ontario renamed 'Lake America' by Trump executive order — but Canadians aren't accepting it
Google Maps now shows the new name to U.S. users, while Canadian websites display the change. Ontario leaders and experts say the renaming has no legal standing.
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U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America," sparking swift backlash from Canadian leaders and raising questions about naming rights to shared water bodies.
Google Maps began displaying the change on August 30, with the new name appearing to U.S. users. Google said it updates map names to reflect official government sources, including the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which formally changed the designation. Canadians using Google Maps continue to see Lake Ontario, while users in other countries see both names.
However, the renaming created confusion across Canadian digital infrastructure. Hydro One's outage map, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's store locator, GO Transit's station finder, and federal government housing and infrastructure maps briefly displayed the new name before corrections were made. A Hydro One spokesperson said the company regrets the "error" and is working with its third-party mapping vendor to restore the correct geographic reference.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford rejected the renaming on Sunday. "It was like something out of Saturday Night Live when [Trump] signed a document saying change it to Lake America," Ford said. "No one's going to call it Lake of America. It's been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It's going to continue being Lake Ontario." On Saturday, Ford unveiled a large sign in Winona, Ontario reading "Lake Ontario, now and always."
Prime Minister Mark Carney, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all spoken against the move.
Geography professor Reuben Rose-Redwood at the University of Victoria said the change reflects a pattern of political assertion through naming. "There's this long history of using place-naming and renaming as an assertion of power," Rose-Redwood said. "Place naming itself is not a neutral practice; it's inherently political in terms of the values and the assertions of authority to name and to map that we find today."
While Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" prompted Google, Apple, and Microsoft to update their maps, Apple has not yet made the change for Lake Ontario as of Sunday afternoon.
Rose-Redwood noted that geographic renaming has occurred historically — pointing to places like the Falkland Islands or Victoria, B.C., originally known as Camosack. However, legal precedent and international agreements governing naming rights to shared water bodies between Canada and the United States remain unclear from available public information.
Do Canada and the U.S. have a formal agreement governing the naming of shared geographic features?
Will the renaming remain in place, or is this likely to be reversed or challenged?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
By the numbers
When did Google Maps start showing the new Lake America name?
Google Maps began displaying 'Lake America' on August 30, 2026, showing the new name to U.S. users while Canadians continued to see Lake Ontario.
Which Canadian digital services initially displayed the new name by mistake?
Hydro One's outage map, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's store locator, GO Transit's station finder, and federal government housing and infrastructure maps briefly showed the new name before being corrected.
