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Google Maps switches to "Lake America" as Canada compares change to "SNL" skit
Axios ^ | 08/31/26 | Donica Phifer

Posted on 08/31/2026 8:36:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

President Trump's order to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" is stirring up more controversy, as tech companies decide whether to comply or not.

The big picture: Google and other digital map providers — like MapQuest and Apple — have split on whether to accept the name change or keep Lake Ontario on their maps.

Driving the news: An Axios review of Google and Apple Maps on Sunday showed Google now says "Lake America" on mobile and desktop, while Apple Maps says Lake Ontario.

Zoom out: Google had said users in the U.S. will see Lake America, while users in Canada will see Lake Ontario, and users in other countries will see Lake Ontario (Lake America), according to the company's statement.

(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: canada; google; lakeamerica; lakeontario
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1 posted on 08/31/2026 8:36:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Ontario Premier Doug Ford compared the move to a “Saturday Night Live” skit during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” saying: “No one’s going to call it Lake of America. It’s been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It’s going to continue being Lake Ontario. It’s just so disappointing.”


2 posted on 08/31/2026 8:37:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe we could also rename Canada to “North North America”.


3 posted on 08/31/2026 8:38:07 AM PDT by captmar-vell
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To: SeekAndFind

Not everyone is changing their maps.

Mapquest, which provided internet mapping nearly a decade before Google, said Saturday that it will not change its maps to reflect Trump’s order.

“We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” the company wrote in a tweet that has since gone viral.

See Tweet here:

https://x.com/MapQuest/status/2093069649713733725


4 posted on 08/31/2026 8:39:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: captmar-vell

Not everyone is changing their maps.

Mapquest, which provided internet mapping nearly a decade before Google, said Saturday that it will not change its maps to reflect Trump’s order.

“We’re not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” the company wrote in a tweet that has since gone viral.

See Tweet here:

https://x.com/MapQuest/status/2093069649713733725


5 posted on 08/31/2026 8:39:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Who really cares people will call it whatever they want but didn’t native Americans name the lake ?LOL


6 posted on 08/31/2026 8:41:54 AM PDT by butlerweave (Fateh)
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To: SeekAndFind

Trolling to keep the children occupied watching cartoons while the grownups are making plans in the other room.


7 posted on 08/31/2026 8:42:45 AM PDT by captmar-vell
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To: SeekAndFind
Actually . . . .

Canada ..... is an SNL skit.
8 posted on 08/31/2026 8:50:39 AM PDT by Texan4Life
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To: captmar-vell

I think Toronto the largest city on the shore of Lake America should be renamed after Trump. Trumpopolis or New Trump City or something similar. :)


9 posted on 08/31/2026 8:51:06 AM PDT by xp38
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To: SeekAndFind

A frivolous waste of legislative focus. Most, if not all these switcheroos will be reversed anyway by the next President, even if that is a Republican President.

If he had stopped at one or perhaps two changes, that’s one thing, but we’re going on what? A dozen name changes now, done for no reason except ‘because we can’?
Needless confusion and expensive rebranding.


10 posted on 08/31/2026 8:55:32 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: captmar-vell

Exactly.


11 posted on 08/31/2026 8:57:24 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (There is no gravity. The earth just sucks. )
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To: SeekAndFind

I thought it was a brilliant move.


12 posted on 08/31/2026 8:59:35 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
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To: butlerweave

RE: didn’t native Americans name the lake?

Well various American tribes gave the Lake different names depending on which side of the Lake you are in.

The French colonizers eventually settled on Ontario.

French colonial mapmakers and missionaries recorded several competing labels. Samuel de Champlain called it Lake St. Louis in 1632, and later French usage also included Frontenac; eventually a Latinized form, Lacus Ontarius, helped establish “Ontario” in European cartography.


13 posted on 08/31/2026 8:59:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

As we are a sovereign nation, can we not call it anything we want? Same goes for Canada. Or is there some “authority” who has control over what gets named what?


14 posted on 08/31/2026 9:03:30 AM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I am never in favor of changing long standing names of anything. I detested the renaming of African and Asian countries as their former names are often nicer and more melodic. Is not Persia a lovelier name than Iran? Is not Siam , nicer than Thailand? I deplored the removal of the statues erected in the memory of Confederate leaders or the changing of street names and university buildings to fit a more “inclusive” representation. Therefore changing the age old name of Lake Ontario to Lake America is silly and serves no purpose.


15 posted on 08/31/2026 9:10:22 AM PDT by sueuprising (The best of it is, God is with us-John Wesley)
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To: DennisR

Agreed. The Baltic Sea is an example of being called the Western Sea or the Eastern Sea, depending on which side of the sea your nation sits (i.e. Finland and Sweden). What we call the Persian Gulf, the Arabs call the Arabian Gulf. And there are tons more examples.


16 posted on 08/31/2026 9:10:55 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Tomorrow Trump will decree poutine renamed as a Fries and America Cheeze.
Tim Hortons has already printed new menus.


17 posted on 08/31/2026 9:14:25 AM PDT by MrBambaLaMamba (עומד לצד ישראל. The only good commie is one that's dead - Country Joe McDonald)
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To: SeekAndFind
Ontario Premier Doug Ford...

Nope, we're changing that to "Dontario".

18 posted on 08/31/2026 9:14:39 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: SeekAndFind

Hahahah...whoever gets to Google first with the most money wins!


19 posted on 08/31/2026 9:15:58 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est)
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To: captmar-vell

Should we call Mexico and Central America ‘South North America’?

It’s all technically ‘America’, so it seems like a meaningless controversy...


20 posted on 08/31/2026 9:20:03 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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