Trump pushes Apple to change ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ on its maps
US President Donald Trump has asked tech firm Apple to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps platform to comply with his executive order changing the name of the Great Lake, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said.
Burgum told Fox News on Monday that “the president has reached out to Apple directly”, adding: “I’m sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon.”
Google made the switch for its US-based users over the weekend, though users in Canada still see the lake, which borders the province of Ontario and the state of New York, as Lake Ontario.
After its announcement that it will not be changing the name of Lake Ontario, MapQuest rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications as of Monday morning on the Apple App Store in Canada.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l80eq5lxno
Google Maps relabeled Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the US, Alphabet Inc. announced, after President Donald Trump said he would rename the lake amid a trade spat with Canada.
https://fortune.com/2026/08/30/google-maps-lake-ontario-label-lake-america-trump-canada-tariffs/
How the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Lake Ontario/Lake America name change in the US will appear on Google Maps pic.twitter.com/nFw80TwaqH
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) August 30, 2026
Rochester tells Donny the Diddler to pound sand. pic.twitter.com/u9Yxo1W9rp
— Just Jack (@7Veritas4) August 29, 2026
Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump and changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Apple Maps still uses the correct name. pic.twitter.com/3nDcPHuOsU
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 30, 2026
Are people really surprised that the Trump bootlickers at @google changed the name of Lake Ontario on Google Maps? pic.twitter.com/9Cgy7wfeWF
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) August 30, 2026
Apple Maps has not capitulated. They still show Lake Ontario. pic.twitter.com/gBy50bvkJA
— cobaltblue (@cobaltblue) August 30, 2026
The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” in the United States. Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see “Lake America,” those in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario,” and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names. 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.
https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/maps/gnis-lake-ontario-lake-america-name-change/