MapQuest will not be changing the name of Lake Ontario after President Donald Trump ordered the body of water to be called “Lake America” for U.S. federal use. The company later doubled down, launching a name generator that lets users rename the lake themselves. Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” MapQuest wrote, alongside an image labeling the body of water, “Lake Are We Doing This Again?” The original post had garnered more than 4.7 million views as of Friday evening, returning the service to the spotlight—and raising another question: Will Google Maps follow Trump’s order?
Trump signed an executive order Thursday renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for U.S. federal use amid escalating tensions following the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada. The president had floated the idea in the days leading up to the order. Trump said Thursday that Canada was “the worst” to deal with on trade.
The order said Lake Ontario has historically served as a critical route for American trade, commerce and military logistics and continues to play an important role in shipping, manufacturing, agriculture and energy. The White House on Friday shared a message from U.S. Geological Survey Director Ned Mamula, saying the agency had officially designated the body of water as Lake America in its electronic documents.
Geological Survey has officially designated the former Lake Ontario to be renamed as Lake America in all official USGS electronic documents,” the message on X said. It added that the change had also been made official in the Geographic Names Information System, or GNIS, and would begin appearing in printed documents over the next several days. The executive order applies to U.S. federal usage and does not require Canada or private companies to adopt the new name.
The move echoes Trump’s decision last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for U.S. federal use. MapQuest, which launched in 1996 as the first commercial web mapping service, became a household name for online directions years before Google Maps arrived. Its response to Trump's executive order drew widespread attention online, with some users praising the company and others poking fun at the service’s sudden resurgence.
Eric Trump, the president’s middle son, was among those who responded. The name change itself also drew pushback from officials on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the name change, pointing to the centuries-old history of Lake Ontario’s name.
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