The company stated that it updates names on Google Maps according to changes in official government sources.
Google Maps changed the display of the name of Lake Ontario for users in the USA: it is marked as Lake America in the service. In Canada, Google retained the name Lake Ontario, and users in other countries see both options.
This is reported by The Hill.
The company stated that it updates names on Google Maps according to changes in official government sources. In the USA, such a source is the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which officially registered the new name of the lake. The change occurred after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to rename one of the Great Lakes. The document took effect immediately. The order mentions the lake’s natural resources and its historical connection to the early development of the United States.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized the renaming, stating it resembles something from Saturday Night Live. According to him, no one will call the body of water Lake America since it has been known as Lake Ontario for hundreds of years.
The Seneca people – one of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy – called on Trump to revoke the order. President of the Seneca Nation, J. Conrad Seneca, stated that the renaming contradicts the terms of the 1794 Canandaigua Treaty, which set the boundaries of the Seneca people from Lake Ontario. In the Seneca language, the body of water is called sga:nyodai, meaning “beautiful lake.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also condemned the name change, mentioning the Wendat people’s word Ontari’io. According to him, it means “lake beautiful, lake great.” The renaming takes place amid a trade standoff between the USA and Canada, which imposed tariffs in response to Washington’s actions.
