Google has followed through on a change to its Maps software and apps that now displays Gulf of America on the body of water that's been known as the Gulf of Mexico since the 16th century.
Typing "Gulf" in Google Maps still returns "Gulf of Mexico" as the top search result, but selecting it takes users to the body of water with Gulf of America as the label.
The change appears to have begun populating sometime on Feb. 10. Google said in late January it would be making the change after an executive order from president Donald Trump called for renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Google said in a series of social media posts that it was complying with Global Navigation Information Systems data and that it would take some time for the update to go through. On Feb. 10, Google published a blog post letting users know what they will see in its software.
In the post, the company said, "The names you see in the Maps app are based on your country location, which is determined by information from your phone's operating system (e.g., iOS and Android), including your SIM, network and locale. If you're using Google Maps on the web, the names are based on the region you select in your Search settings or your device's location, if you haven't selected one."
Some people on social media say the change is enough to make them switch to alternate map software from Apple and Microsoft. One person wrote on X, "It gives me no pleasure to announce that Apple Maps and Bing Maps are not superior to Google."
Another wrote, "Apple Maps is still sane."
Neither company has said whether they will also be changing the name in their software, but other users are already pressuring Apple to follow Google's lead.
Microsoft and Apple did not immediately respond to emails about whether they will be changing the name. Google commented publicly last month about its reasoning behind the change.
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