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Google changes Lake Ontario to Lake of America for Google Maps users in the U.S.

August 30, 2026
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Lake Ontario with the Toronto skyline in the background. Following its 'long-standing policy,' Google will now display Lake America instead of Lake Ontario for Maps users in the U.S.

Google has officially renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America on its Maps interface — at least for people using the app or website in the U.S.

On Saturday, the tech giant announced it had changed the name of the body of water, through which the border with Canada runs, to reflect the most recent update from the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

That change was initiated by an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump last week, instructing the department of the interior to make it so.

“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now,” Google wrote.

What app users will see depends on their country location, as determined by their device’s operating system, SIM, network and current location. Desktop and other web viewers are presented information based on individual regional search settings or, failing that, the device’s location as determined by Google.

That means people in the U.S. should see Trump’s new moniker, Canadians will keep seeing the historically accurate name and the rest of the world will see both names, presented as “Lake Ontario (Lake America).”

What Google Maps app users will see for Lake Ontario depends on their country location, as determined by their device’s operating system, SIM, network and current location. Desktop and other web viewers are presented with information based on individual regional search settings or, failing that, the device’s location as determined by Google.

Google took the same actions when Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in February 2025.

National Post contacted Google’s country manager for Canada, Sabrina Geramia, for comment but was directed back to its statement.

In testing other web and app-based mapping services from a Canadian address, Apple Maps users continue to see Lake Ontario. A search for “Lake America” yields America Lake in Brule County, South Dakota and, curiously, Lake Ontario.

Microsoft’s Bing Maps couldn’t find a location called Lake America .

MapQuest left no doubt that they would continue to honour the old name, posting on X that they are “not changing it.”

They followed up by creating an interface that lets users enter their own names for the lake to generate a map image, or have MapQuest create one at random, such as “Lake Oh Canada,” “Lake Double-Double,” and “Lake Not Erie.”

Their example, a shot at Trump’s Gulf of America renaming, was “Lake Are We Doing This Again?”

Some of the user replies included names like “Lake of Hormuz,” “Lake Epstein Files,” and “Lake Tariff Tantrum.”

There are other locations around the world where two places have the same name on Google Maps for users from outside those countries.

For instance, the British see the Falkland Islands while Argentinians see the South American island chain as Islas Malvinas. Everyone else gets the English name first, the other in parentheses. The same style applies to the long-disputed Persian or Arabian Gulf separating Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Also on Saturday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford dipped his toes back into the debate by posting a video of himself lakeside next to a new billboard at the Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby that reads “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” in both official languages.

“Just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we have set up a sign to remind them,” Ford said in the 39-second clip in which he also accused the U.S. head of state of making the change because Canada is “standing up” for itself in the trade war with the U.S.

Trump appeared to fire back later Saturday afternoon, posting an AI-generated video of himself kicking over a “Welcome to Lake Ontario” sign along a shoreline and replacing it with one reading “Welcome to America” over the iconic intro to the Peer Gynt suite adapted by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The music then switches to the Village People’s YMCA as Trump performs his signature dance moves.

Earlier in the day, he’d posted another AI-generated video of a marching army of Canadian geese with hair similar to Trump’s and holding machine guns in muscled human arms. The video, set to the theme song for the television show Hawaii Five-O, ends with the birds firing their weapons as fireworks soar overhead and the words “Lake America” appear.

The U.S. Department of State also waded into the conversation on X, sharing a screenshot from its website showing the U.S. consulate location in Toronto.

“It was brought to our attention that Lake America was erroneously labeled as Lake ‘Ontario’ on our website. We have corrected this mistake and apologize for deadnaming the lake.”

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