Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America?
The same body of water now appears under different official names depending on who is looking.
Gulf of Mexico
Mexico continues to use “Gulf of Mexico,” the long-established name that remains common in international usage outside the United States.
Gulf of America
Executive Order 14172 directed U.S. federal agencies to adopt “Gulf of America” as the federal name in 2025.
The water does not move. The viewer does. "Gulf of Mexico" — "Golfo de México" — has been the name in continuous international use since Spanish colonial cartography in the 1500s, and Mexico and most of the world still use it. On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14172 directing U.S. federal agencies to use "Gulf of America" instead; the order applies only to the U.S. side of the gulf, not to Mexico's or Cuba's waters.
A name can change by decree without anything on the ground changing. The name a map uses tells you who made the map, not what the place is.
Which label on your map would change if you lived across the border?
Explore how the name changes
Google Maps in the U.S.
Google says users in the United States see “Gulf of America,” reflecting the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
Mexico and everywhere else
Users in Mexico see “Gulf of Mexico.” Google says users outside the U.S. and Mexico see both names. The same digital map can therefore display different labels to different viewers.
The clearest sign of the split is Google Maps itself: since February 2025 it has shown "Gulf of America" to users located in the United States, "Gulf of Mexico" to users in Mexico, and "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)" to everyone else — the same body of water, three different labels, depending on where the map is opened. Mexico's president said the country would pursue legal action against Google over the change. The dropdowns below show the same split in three other places.
Sea of Japan or East Sea?
Sea of Japan
Official government usage.
East Sea
Official government usage.
Korean East Sea
Official government usage.
Sea of Japan
The predominant label on international maps.
The sea between Japan and the Korean Peninsula has four official labels depending on whose government made the map. The International Hydrographic Organization’s reference, Limits of Oceans and Seas (1953), uses “Japan Sea,” and South Korea has campaigned for decades to have “East Sea” shown alongside it.
Persian Gulf or Arabian Gulf?
Persian Gulf
The historically established name, and the standard form used by the United Nations and most international reference works.
Arabian Gulf
Used in official communications and mapping by Iraq and several Arab Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“Persian Gulf” has been documented since antiquity; ancient Greek geographers called it Sinus Persicus. “Arabian Gulf” was promoted from the 1960s and ’70s onward, alongside a wave of pan-Arab nationalism. The choice still causes trouble: when National Geographic added “Arabian Gulf” as a secondary label in 2004, Iran barred its staff from entering the country.
Senkaku, Diaoyu, or Diaoyutai?
Senkaku Islands
Administered as part of Ishigaki City, Okinawa. Japan holds that there is no sovereignty dispute to negotiate.
Diaoyu Islands
China cites historical records going back centuries and patrols nearby waters to assert its claim.
Diaoyutai Islands
Taiwan makes a similar historical claim, placing the islands in Yilan County, and pursues it separately from Beijing.
Here the name sits on top of a live territorial dispute. The islands are under three square miles of uninhabited rock in the East China Sea, but they come with fishing grounds, possible undersea gas, and nearby shipping lanes. Japanese coast guard ships routinely turn away Chinese and Taiwanese boats, so a map’s choice of name is a statement about whose claim it recognizes, not just a translation.
Related exhibits
Sources: Executive Order 14172 (whitehouse.gov, Jan. 20, 2025); U.S. Department of the Interior Order No. 3423; Google public statements on location-based map labeling; Mexican government statements. Sea of Japan: Japan and Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs position statements; International Hydrographic Organization, Limits of Oceans and Seas (S-23, 1953). Persian Gulf: United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names; government statements from Iran and Gulf Cooperation Council states. Senkaku: Japan, China, and Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs position statements. Country shapes: Natural Earth 1:10m, stored locally in Hanten Shared Assets.