Apple Maps labels Lake Ontario as Lake America for US users

Apple has changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its Maps app for users in the United States, becoming the second major US technology company to adopt the label after an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The change does not apply in Canada, where Apple users will continue to see Lake Ontario displayed. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the BBC and Al Jazeera.

The move follows Trump’s order directing the US Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the Geographic Names Information System, the official federal database for place names, within 30 days. The order came after trade talks between the US and Canada collapsed late last month and Washington imposed 50 percent tariffs on about $20bn worth of Canadian goods.

Canada has pledged to respond with “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration walked away from the talks over what his office called unacceptable demands. Carney told the Trump administration to “start being serious” and stop trying to be tough before negotiations could resume.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump urged Apple directly to make the change. In an interview with Fox News, Burgum said Trump “reached out to Apple directly” last week to request the new name on Apple Maps.

Trump’s order changes how the US federal government refers to the lake, but it cannot compel private companies to adopt the name, Al Jazeera reported. Companies such as Google use the federal naming system as a reference for their own maps.

Google made a similar change in recent days, saying its Maps service reflects “name changes in official government sources”. Google said US users will see Lake America, Canadian users will see Lake Ontario, and users in other countries will see both labels, according to Al Jazeera. The change drew backlash on social media.

Not all mapping services have followed. MapQuest said “we’re not changing it” in a short Facebook post on Friday, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera reported the company also pushed back in a viral post that said: “Name it whatever you want at your leisure.” Its app rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications on Canada’s Apple App Store earlier this week.

The dispute has played out publicly on both sides of the border. Trump has posted AI-generated videos on social media, including one showing him kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with another that says “Welcome to Lake America”. Canada installed a new sign at the lake reading: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”

“Just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we’ve set up this sign to remind them, it’s Lake Ontario, now and forever,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.

Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. The names of four of the five Great Lakes — Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie — come from Indigenous words, while Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French word. Al Jazeera reported that Ontario takes its name from the Indigenous Wendat language.

Apple has previously adopted Trump-ordered name changes, including changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for US users. Al Jazeera reported that Apple also switched the name of the Alaskan mountain Denali to Mount McKinley. Google made the Gulf change in 2025 after Trump declared it would be called the Gulf of America, and Mexico sued Google over what it said was the company’s decision to ignore requests not to rename the Gulf for US users.

Al Jazeera reported that Apple’s Lake Ontario change took place on the same day executive John Ternus became Apple’s new CEO.