Trump Pushes to Rename the Atlantic Ocean, Faces Google Pushback

At a rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump said he asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai to rename the Atlantic Ocean after himself. Trump indicated he might keep the existing name, asking the crowd whether the Atlantic should remain unchanged.

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Trump’s push follows earlier executive orders that altered other U.S. geographic labels. In January 2025, he directed the Gulf of Mexico to be called the Gulf of America for federal use, a change that Google Maps applied for U.S. users while retaining the original name abroad. In August 2026, an order renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America, prompting Google to display the new label domestically. Apple Maps made a similar update the following month. These precedents have shown that U.S. federal renamings do not automatically translate to international acceptance.

Newsweek

Google has not publicly confirmed the phone call, and the company’s mapping policy states it reflects names recorded in official government sources such as the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which standardizes federal geographic names, generally discourages changes without compelling reasons and typically prohibits naming features after living persons, though presidential orders can create exceptions.

Newsweek

• “We seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean, I called Google Maps who were really great with the lake, really great and I spoke to a brilliant guy, Sundar, he heads all of Google, he's a brilliant guy, Sergey and Sundar, totally brilliant guys,” — Donald Trump, president

Newsweek

• “And I said Sundar I'm thinking of the Atlantic Ocean can you handle it?” — Donald Trump, president

Newsweek

• “We've got the Gulf, we've got a beautiful lake, and now somebody said, 'You need a river,'” — Donald Trump, president

Newsweek

• “The Mississippi River, I'm not changing the name of the Mississippi,” — Donald Trump, president

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