Can President Trump Change the Name of the Gulf to the “Gulf of America”

On Day One of his Presidency Donald Trump signed an Executive Order renaming the former Gulf of Mexico to be henceforth known as the Gulf of America.

His Executive Order also restored the name of Mt. McKinley in Alaska, which President Obama had renamed “Denali.”

We like both name changes, but that’s not our issue. The question we will look at is whether the President has the authority to change geographic names.

The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, doesn’t think so, but she also doesn’t think the United States, whether by its President or its Congress, can change an internationally accepted name. She said that Mexico and the rest of the world would continue to refer to it as the Gulf of Mexico. Not so fast Claudia: Google Maps said that “Gulf of America” would appear on its maps to users in the U.S., “Gulf of Mexico” would be seen by users in Mexico, and both names would show up for users elsewhere else. (Google Maps will make this change as soon as the name is officially updated in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System).

The question presented is does the U.S. have the right to change a geological name? If so, we can debate exactly how the U.S. would do so, whether names require Congressional legislation, or a Presidential proclamation, for just a cartographer’s usage, or maybe some recognized organization giving the new name its blessing.

The answer has to be that we have such a right, and so does Mexico, and so does China. Every country is free to call any geographic or geological place or feature whatever it wishes. Others can go along or call it something different. Let’s look at the Gulf of California, which the Mexicans (and these days a lot of Americans) refer to as the Sea of Cortez. Then there’s the Rio Grande River, but that’s only the American name. The Mexicans call that river the Rio Bravo. Let’s go to Europe: The English Channel is called that in Britain. To the French, it is “La Manche,” which translates to “the sleeve” in English. Going back a whole bunch of years, the Romans called it Oceanus Britannicus (and sometimes Mare Britannicum). Did someone have the authority to rename it? The Indian Ocean, which was once called the Eastern Ocean, but to the ancient Greeks it (or at least that part of it which they knew) was called the Erythraean Sea.

Another huge gulf is formed by the waters between France and Spain. We call it the Bay of Biscay, but in Spain they call it Golfo de Vizcaya, and in France, it is called Golfe de Gascogne.

The point is that it is very typical that bodies of water shared by several nations to be called by different names in each of them. Thus, if we want to call our gulf the Gulf of America, we can do so, and if Mexico wants to call the same body of water the Golfo de México, they can certainly do that too.

There is no formal protocol on the naming of international waters, and the fact is that names change over time. The Gulf of Mexico has previously been called Mare de Nort, Mar del Norte, Golfo de Florida, Golfo de Cortés, Sinus S. Michaelis, Golfo de Lucatan, Mare Iuchatanicum, Sinus Magnus Antillarum, Mare Cathaynum, Golfo de Nueva España. Though, not to blur the reality, it has been called the Gulf of Mexico for several hundred years. But the point is, names do change.

Since the United States has the right to call the gulf whatever it wants, the only question is whether it is in the President’s prerogative or whether that role reserved for some other entity? Not to fear, House Resolution 276 has been introduced to rename the Gulf as the Gulf of America, and Congress can vote on it if it wishes.

We recognize that there are some who believe that renaming geographic and geological features is the role of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and must be set forth in the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), but this is pure semantics as the presidential administration in power appoints the members of the Board and controls the GNIS.