Apple has changed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its U.S. mapping service after President Donald Trump ordered the federal government to adopt the new name, while Canada and New York have rejected the change.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Apple has changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for users in the United States, bringing its mapping service into line with a federal naming change ordered by President Donald Trump and adding one of North America’s Great Lakes to a growing dispute over geographic names.
The change appeared Tuesday on the web version of Apple Maps after the new designation was entered into the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
Apple confirmed that people accessing its maps from the United States will now see “Lake America.”
The company is not applying the name universally.
Users in Canada will continue to see the body of water identified as Lake Ontario, while Apple Maps users elsewhere in the world will be shown both names.
That approach mirrors how Apple handled Trump’s earlier decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Alphabet had already taken similar action. Late Saturday, the company changed the lake’s name to “Lake America” on Google Maps for users in the United States.
The decisions by two of the largest American technology companies demonstrate how mapping platforms can become involved in international political disputes when governments adopt geographic names that are not recognized by neighboring countries or other authorities.
Trump’s executive order changes how the U.S. federal government refers to Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes.
It does not compel Canada, international organizations, state governments or other independent institutions to use the new designation.
Canadian officials quickly rejected the change.
Within hours of Trump issuing the order, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would continue calling the lake Lake Ontario.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat whose state borders the lake on its southern and eastern sides, also said New York would not adopt the new name.
Lake Ontario has carried its existing name for more than 400 years.
The geography of the lake further complicates any unilateral naming change because it is shared by the United States and Canada rather than lying entirely within one country.
Approximately 52% of Lake Ontario’s surface area is located in Canada, while the remaining portion lies within New York.
Trump’s decision therefore changes federal American terminology for a body of water over which the United States does not have exclusive geographic jurisdiction.
Apple’s decision to display different names depending on a user’s location reflects that division.
A person viewing the lake from the United States will see “Lake America,” while someone using the same service from Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario. Users elsewhere will be presented with both names.
The change follows months of increasingly tense rhetoric between Trump and Canadian leaders.
Since early 2025, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Canadian political leaders have dismissed the idea as ridiculous and rejected suggestions that Canada could become part of the United States.
The Lake Ontario order is also the latest example of Trump using executive authority to change the terminology the federal government uses for major geographic features.
In January 2025, Trump directed the federal government to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Google and Apple subsequently updated their mapping products for American users to reflect that designation.
As with Lake Ontario, the federal action did not require other countries or international organizations to adopt the Gulf of America name.
The latest change has again placed technology companies in the position of deciding how to represent competing geographic terminology to millions of users around the world.
For Apple and Google, the solution has been to apply the U.S. government’s designation primarily within the United States while preserving traditional or internationally recognized names in other countries.
The result is that the same body of water can now appear under different names depending on where a person opens a mapping application.
For U.S. users of Apple Maps and Google Maps, Lake Ontario is now displayed as Lake America.
For Canadians, it remains Lake Ontario.
And despite the federal designation in Washington, neither Canada nor New York has agreed to abandon the centuries-old name.
Original article
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