President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” as the United States and Canada hurtle headlong into a trade war.
So, can Trump really do that?
Yes, in short.
But as last year’s Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America brouhaha indicates, when a U.S. president attempts to unilaterally rename a large body of water that touches multiple nations, internal and external drama ensues.
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That was particularly evident from a tranche of government records NOTUS obtained last year detailing federal government wrangling and arguments over the gulf.
Here’s what to know about Trump, Lake Ontario and nomenclatural considerations:
How Would Trump Change Lake Ontario’s Name?
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a multi-agency federal body, is tasked with “maintaining uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal government.” The U.S. Geological Survey, which is part of the Interior Department, serves as a lead agency for coordinating renaming requests. Traditionally, name-change requests are subject to a process of review and deliberation that could take months or years.
Trump upended geographic and geological naming conventions when he declared he’d rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” upon his second inauguration.
Matters moved quickly: Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20, 2025, that mandated the “Gulf of America” change. On Feb. 9, 2025, Trump declared “Gulf of America Day” in the United States — and also suggested Canada should become the United States’ 51st state.
The “Gulf of America” edict caused some internal tumult and logistical hiccups within federal agencies. But officials instituted a de facto media blackout over the process, little resistance emerged, and Trump ultimately got his way, particularly when the federal government’s Geographic Names Information System made the official switch.
To change Lake Ontario’s name, Trump is launching a similar executive order and bureaucratic process.
Congress could also pass a law codifying such a name change.
Would Americans be Forced to Call It ‘Lake America’?
Not necessarily, even if Trump tried to enforce naming doctrine. An applicable legal ruling came in April 2025, when a federal court ordered the White House to lift access restrictions on The Associated Press, which continued — and continues — to use “Gulf of Mexico” in its news articles. (NOTUS also uses “Gulf of Mexico” in general references.)
Local jurisdictions have also defied Trump. In Florida, for example, Longboat Key leaders voted to keep the town’s “Gulf of Mexico Drive” and not change signage to “Gulf of America Drive.”
In New York, the lone U.S. state that touches Lake Ontario, there are thousands of governmental, commercial and private references to the lake — the world’s 13th-largest by surface area. The word “Ontario” is believed to come from “kanadario,” a word from the Iroquois, whose nations and territories historically spanned much of modern-day New York state and southern Ontario in Canada.
While some people and jurisdictions in New York might feel compelled or cajoled to make a “Lake America” switch, many others may simply choose to ignore Trump’s wishes and maintain their Lake Ontario status quo.
The “Gulf of America” experience also suggests that companies producing widely used maps could come to different conclusions on a “Lake America.” Google Maps, for one, lists “Gulf of America” for users in the United States but “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico and both names side-by-side elsewhere. National Geographic map products on sale to U.S. customers still display “Gulf of Mexico.”
How Would Foreign Nations Treat ‘Lake America’?
With contempt or dismissiveness, if the past is prologue.
There’s almost zero chance Canada, with hundreds of miles of Lake Ontario shoreline and a province of the same name, would recognize “Lake America” in any formal fashion.
Other nations would also remain effectively free to call Lake Ontario whatever they wanted.
There’s an entity known as the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names that “supports the national and international standardization of geographical names.” But the group has no power to standardize geographic names.
What About Non-Lake Ontarios?
Take Ontario County in New York. Because there’s no federal-level mechanism for changing a county’s name — such a change would be a state- and local-level affair — the largely rural area in the bucolic Finger Lakes region is almost certainly safe.
There’s the city of Ontario, California, near Los Angeles, along with municipal Ontarios in New York, Oregon, Ohio and Wisconsin. Same deal as counties: American presidents have no jurisdiction over municipality names. It’s also exceedingly rare and decidedly inconvenient for local officials to change a city or town name. Signs, schools, buildings, boulevards, parks and most any other place bearing the old moniker would eventually need to change along with it. Still, it’s technically possible: In 1954, for example, Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk in Pennsylvania combined to become the borough of Jim Thorpe, named for the early-20th century athlete and Olympian.
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