On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14172, titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” officially renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement this change within 30 days.
The executive order also mandates reinstating the name “Mount McKinley” for North America’s highest peak, reversing the 2015 decision to call it Denali. The surrounding national park will retain the name Denali National Park and Preserve.
In response to the renaming, companies like BP and Chevron have adopted the “Gulf of America” designation in their communications, including references to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster now being termed the “Gulf of America oil spill.” However, other corporations, such as Shell and ExxonMobil, continue to use the original name.
Google has updated its mapping services to reflect the change, displaying “Gulf of America” for users in the U.S., “Gulf of Mexico” for those in Mexico, and “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” for users elsewhere.
Similarly, the US Federal Aviation Administration also issued a notice Monday regarding the geographical name changes, stating:
Please be advised that the FAA is in the process of updating our data and charts to show a name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and a name change from Denali to Mount McKinley.
The renaming has sparked discussions about the process of changing internationally recognized geographic names and the potential implications for international relations. Critics question the unilateral nature of the decision, noting that such changes typically require broader international agreement.
