Lake Ontario is now ‘Lake America’ on Google Maps

US citizen will see the "new" name, while Canadians still see "Lake Ontario.". Lake Ontario is now ‘Lake America’ on Google Maps, but not for everyone. Last week, President Trump signed the executive order to rename the lake officially.

Google says the new change is only visible for people in the US, while those in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario.” Last week, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to officially rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” his second re-christening, so to speak, of a body of water after the Gulf of Mexico. Following these official orders, Google Maps has started showing the name of the body of water bordering both the US and Canada. In an official announcement, Google noted it will start showing the lake’s new official name, as designated by the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

It said the official name change will appear on Google Maps, but only for people in the US. Meanwhile, Canadian citizens will continue to see the old name, Lake Ontario, while users elsewhere will see both names as follows: Lake Ontario (Lake America). Google also shared a glimpse of what it will look like visually, though you can also check for yourself, as the changes are now live.

It’ll still show up as Lake Ontario for Maps users in Canada. Apple Maps hasn’t yet made the update, but it adopted the Gulf of Mexico’s new Trump-ordered moniker last year when all that nonsense went down, so it likely won’t be long before it does.

In a blog post, Google explained that it updates Maps "to reflect name changes in official government sources." In the US, that source is the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which officially changed Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America earlier this week. The company provided a similar explanation when it switched the Gulf of Mexico label to "Gulf of America" for US users.

Maps users in the US will see "Lake America," Canadians will see "Lake Ontario" and people elsewhere will see both, which surely won’t be confusing at all. "These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now," Google said.