Google Maps to rename Gulf of Mexico, Denali for US users
Google announced that it plans to update the names of two major geographical landmarks in accordance with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
The tech giant said in an X post it plans to update the name of Alaska's Denali mountain to Mt. McKinley and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
"We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources," Google said in the X post.
Google said in the thread of posts that it uses the U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database to determine the names.
"Also longstanding practice: When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too," Google added in another post.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order on Inauguration Day that ordered the name Mt. McKinley be reinstated and the Gulf of Mexico be renamed.
"A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs. President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent," Trump said during his inaugural address.
The move was met with some resistance, even from Trump's own party. In an X post on Jan. 20, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that she "strongly" disagreed with Trump's decision.
"Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial," Murkowski said.
