what does “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” mean.
That some countries use one and others the other?
Some more explanation here, the name given is determined based on the users’ location. I used a VPN to see what the label was in various parts of the world. As of February 2025, users accessing Google Maps from the US now see “Gulf of America”. According to [Google](https://blog.google/products/maps/united-states-geographic-name-change-feb-2025/), this change was made to match the changed name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) after President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14172. Titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.”, this order directed U.S. federal agencies to officially refer to the body of water previously known as the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America”.
Additional note: Language localization is based on the user’s account settings so for me, when viewing from Mexico the name is shown as “Gulf of Mexico” but if your language is set to Spanish, it would of course be the spanish name “Golfo de México”
It also seems to depend on the language. I’m in the U.S. but my phone is in Spanish and it says Golfo de México (Golfo de América)
It’d be a lot more work, but what I’d find beautiful is an interactive map that showed all disputed names around the world and their disputing countries – such as the Persian Gulf and Sea of Japan.
![How Google Maps Names of the Gulf of Mexico by Country [OC]](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/xwo8il0ww15f1-1920x1024.png)
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**Visualization Tool:** HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Google Gemini
**Data Source:** [Google Maps](https://maps.google.com) (with VPN)
what does “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” mean.
That some countries use one and others the other?
Some more explanation here, the name given is determined based on the users’ location. I used a VPN to see what the label was in various parts of the world. As of February 2025, users accessing Google Maps from the US now see “Gulf of America”. According to [Google](https://blog.google/products/maps/united-states-geographic-name-change-feb-2025/), this change was made to match the changed name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) after President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14172. Titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.”, this order directed U.S. federal agencies to officially refer to the body of water previously known as the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America”.
https://preview.redd.it/a1rih70w425f1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2edc57219b4f628fe8eef12e475eb87113e0a625
From: [https://blog.google/products/maps/united-states-geographic-name-change-feb-2025/](https://blog.google/products/maps/united-states-geographic-name-change-feb-2025/)
Additional note: Language localization is based on the user’s account settings so for me, when viewing from Mexico the name is shown as “Gulf of Mexico” but if your language is set to Spanish, it would of course be the spanish name “Golfo de México”
It also seems to depend on the language. I’m in the U.S. but my phone is in Spanish and it says Golfo de México (Golfo de América)
It’d be a lot more work, but what I’d find beautiful is an interactive map that showed all disputed names around the world and their disputing countries – such as the Persian Gulf and Sea of Japan.
The naming convention Google use isn’t anything new, [here’s a blog post from 2008](https://publicpolicy.googleblog.com/2008/04/how-google-determines-names-for-bodies.html) about it.
We should compromise a name it Gulf of Salma Hayek.
Don’t worry. This will be fixed soon.
Same thing with Kashmir border, dokdo/takeshima, any Greek turkish island.
Can we call it “Gulf of the Americas” and finally tell the US, that America is two continents and they only make up a part of one of the two?
Wealth Inequality Is The Problem (Immigrants Are The Problem)
Google Maps: United Nations version.
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