Employees of the US Geological Survey, the federal agency responsible for geographic names, said they were frustrated by President Donald Trump's orders to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America. The renaming came amid a trade dispute with Canada, and staff said the change would require altering maps, signs and other references across the agency.
One USGS employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the change was costly and unnecessary. "It's costing taxpayer dollars and human time to do this work," the employee said. USGS director Ned Mamula, a Trump appointee confirmed by the Senate in 2025, sent an email stating that the change had been made in agency electronic documents as of 4:30pm on the announced date, with printed materials to follow.
Geographic names are typically changed through a vote by the US Board on Geographic Names, not by executive order. The change has extended beyond government mapping: Apple and Google, which use USGS data to label maps on billions of smartphones worldwide, changed their software to show Lake America for US users.
Trump has also suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz, citing US tensions with Iran. USGS staff noted that any such change would apply only to US government maps, since the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency sets international standards for federal agencies. Other countries would likely continue using existing names, one employee said.
Senator Martin Heinrich, a Democrat, voted against Mamula's nomination last year. "I am troubled by Mr Mamula's track record of spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories," Heinrich said, expressing concern that the USGS should deliver "unbiased, impartial, and objective scientific information."
