Updated Sept. 14, 2026, 7:23 p.m. ET
The National Weather Service has begun the work of renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America in its broad array of products and services, including maps, websites and forecasts, the agency announced Sept. 14.
Among the weather service products that use the name “Lake Ontario” are open waters forecasts, forecasts for the Niagara River and the surrounding region in New York.
Lake Ontario is part of the formal international boundary between Canada and the United States. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27 directing U.S. agencies to change the name of Lake Ontario during a round of trade negotiations with Canada.
The Department of Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names were directed to make the new “Lake America” name change official within 30 days.
As recently as Sept. 13, the name “Lake Ontario” was still being used in the forecast discussion of the weather service office in Buffalo. It noted that a few showers were possible “southeast of Lake Ontario during the predawn hours of Monday morning.”
“Caution will be exercised to avoid disruptions to operations,” read the weather service statement from Courtney Draggon, director of the business operations and accountability office.
The name “Lake Ontario” dates back centuries, and originated from a native Iroquois tribe word meaning “lake of shining waters,” according to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. European mapmakers first began using the name in the 17th century. The Library of Congress contains a number of maps with references to Lake Ontario, including a map dated to the 17th century.
Other locations previously renamed by the Trump Administration
The renaming of Lake Ontario is the latest in a wave of place-name changes since Trump’s second inauguration.
Trump changed the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” in 2025, prompting a similar wave of alterations to federal maps and weather advisories. Several federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries office and the Coast Guard said the change would not present substantive costs to the public. USA TODAY has reached out to the weather service and the U.S. Geological Survey for further information.
The administration also amended the name of Fort Liberty in North Carolina back to its traditional Fort Bragg and reverted the name of the nation’s tallest mountain from Denali to Mount McKinley.
Who else is changing the name of Lake Ontario?
Google Maps changed the name of the lake for its users in the United States within two days of Trump signing the order. The company said it continues to use the name Lake Ontario for users in Canada, and applied both names for users outside the two countries. Apple also has changed the name in its Map products.
MapQuest, on the other hand, announced it would not change the name.
Officials in Canada said it will continue to use the name “Lake Ontario.”
Contributing: Doyle Rice, Fernando Cervantes Jr., Melina Khan and James Powel with USA TODAY and Kimberly Miller with the USA TODAY Network.
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