First, the Gulf of Mexico, then Lake Ontario. Now, President Donald Trump has said an ocean could be next.
At a Mississippi rally on Monday, the president floated the idea of renaming the Atlantic Ocean the “American Ocean” and said he thinks “Europe will be thrilled.”
He first raised the idea at a Tennessee rally in early October, pitching “Trump Ocean” or “Ocean of the Americas” for either the Atlantic or Pacific. At a South Carolina rally in mid-October, he said Google CEO Sundar Pichai told him “no” to changing the ocean names on Google Maps because they touch a lot of countries.
The White House referred Business Insider to the president’s comments.
It wouldn’t be the first name change Trump has made or suggested in his second non-consecutive term in office.
In August, he signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario — one of the five Great Lakes, bordering both Canada and the US — to Lake America. He’s also renamed a gulf and a mountain, and has mused about renaming a river, calling New Mexico “New America,” and rebranding the Strait of Hormuz as the “Trump Strait.”
Besides renaming numerous government programs and buildings after Trump himself, here’s a look at other places the administration has renamed — so far.
January 2025: Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico and Denali.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
On the first day back in the White House, Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.”
It directed two actions: rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” and restore Alaska’s Denali, the highest mountain in North America, to its former federal name, Mount McKinley. President Barack Obama previously restored the mountain’s Native Alaskan name, meaning “the high one” in the Koyukon language, in 2015.
Trump’s executive order acknowledged that “congressional action is required to establish a renaming in public law,” but called for federal agencies to use the new names in the interim.
Both Google and Apple have since updated their map features to reflect the name change. The Associated Press continued to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico, leading the White House to bar AP from some press events.
February to June 2025: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reversed the renaming of nine Army bases.
US Army Photo by Pfc. Joshua Cowden / 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
In 2023, the Biden administration changed the names of Army bases named after Confederate leaders, renaming them after Medal of Honor recipients, military leaders, and other war heroes, including women and people of color.
Hegseth reversed the changes in a series of orders in 2025, restoring the names of Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Benning, Fort Pickett, Fort Lee, Fort Gordon, Fort Hood, Fort Polk, Fort Rucker, and Fort Bragg.
August 2026: Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The change came amid rising tensions over the trade war with Canada. In August, the US imposed new 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian goods after negotiations fell apart, prompting Canada to announce retaliatory tariffs of up to 50%. Trump has since reversed some of those tariffs.
Canadians were already calling for boycotts of US products and travel before the August executive order. Carney said in his X response to Lake Ontario’s name change that the US “is changing.”
“Their trade relations, their foreign policy, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” he wrote. “Canadian women and men also know that things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario — today and forever.”
Google Maps and Apple Maps show the new name to US users. The change applies only to US federal use.
At the time, Trump also floated renaming an ocean after the US — something he has since repeatedly pitched at recent rallies. The insistence comes despite Trump saying that Pichai told the president “no” when asked to change the Atlantic Ocean’s name on Google Maps.
“This time I’m not doing it,” Trump said at the South Carolina rally, referring to Pichai’s response. “Oceans are different, sir. They cover really a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that.”
