Apple recently updated the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America on its Apple Maps, aligning with U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the lake. This adjustment by Apple on Tuesday mirrors Alphabet’s decision to rename the lake on its Google Maps for U.S. users over the weekend.
Apple has confirmed that U.S. users will now see the label “Lake America” following the update to the body of water’s name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, disclosed that Trump directly contacted Apple regarding the renaming during an interview with Fox Business on Monday.
For users in Canada, the name displayed will remain as Lake Ontario, while users in other parts of the world will see both names as Apple adopted a similar approach when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The change made by Google caused some confusion in Canada as certain companies and government organizations briefly displayed maps with the Lake America name on their websites. This move underscores how U.S. tech companies are being drawn into geopolitical disputes amid pressure from the Trump administration to comply with executive orders that have faced opposition from allies and international entities.
Trump’s executive order regarding Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, only pertains to U.S. federal usage for the lake and does not dictate how Canada, international bodies, or other organizations refer to the lake. Following Trump’s executive order, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and New York Governor Kathy Hochul expressed that they would not be altering the more than 400-year-old name. New York shares a border with the lake on the U.S. side.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that a majority of Americans oppose Trump’s recent actions, including raising taxes on imported Canadian goods and renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. Approximately 52% of Lake Ontario’s surface area lies within Canada, with the remaining portion located in New York.
Trump’s previous move to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in January 2025 prompted both Google and Apple to update their map applications to reflect the change for U.S. users.
