Google has confirmed it will display both Gulf of America and Gulf of Mexico to countries outside the US and Mexico within Google Maps.
In the US, Google said users would see the name of the gulf change once the US government’s Geographic Names Information System was updated.
In Mexico, Google Maps would continue to display Gulf of Mexico as the official name, according to reporting by Reuters.
Last week, US president Donald Trump signed an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. The change left mapmakers pondering, and there were questions on how the order would be reflected internationally.
Today, in a post to X, Google said it had received “a few questions” about how the naming would work in Google Maps.
“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the post said.
“For geographic features in the US, this is when Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated.
“When that happens, we will update Google Maps in the US quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America.”
What about New Zealand?
While it was not yet known exactly what would be displayed for New Zealand users, Google said in its post there was a “longstanding practice” when there were differing names for a location internationally.
“When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name.
“Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too.”
Clearing up what this meant, Reuters reported the name change would be changed for Google Maps users in the US, and the name would remain as Gulf of Mexico in Mexico. However, outside of the two countries, both names would be displayed.
