Gulf of Mexico naming controversy

"Gulf of America" redirects here. For the Russian waters formerly known as the Gulf of America, see Nakhodka Bay. For the coastline along the southern U.S., see Gulf Coast of the United States.

The Gulf of Mexico became the center of a geographical naming dispute in the United States when U.S. president Donald Trump issued an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to call it the "Gulf of America". Issued on the day of his inauguration (January 20, 2025), the executive order only requires the U.S. executive branch to use this nomenclature, although major online map platforms and some U.S.-based media outlets have voluntarily made the change. As of February 2025, polling shows the majority of Americans oppose renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

The name "Gulf of Mexico" has been in use since the 1550s, derived from Mexica, the Nahuatl term for the Aztecs. The name soon became internationally recognized and in use by bodies such as the International Hydrographic Organization.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.