Summary
Google Maps will rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” for U.S. users following a U.S. government decision.
The U.S. Department of Interior recently announced the official name change, implemented by the Board on Geographic Names.
Google stated it updates names based on official government sources.
The name will remain “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico and display both names elsewhere globally.
This change stems from an executive order by Trump, who also reversed the 2015 renaming of Alaska’s Denali to Mount McKinley.
OSM will also eventually change it. It’s the official name of the gulf in the US. Like it or not, that’s the reality. Just like how English maps show “Japan” written over the country called Nihon.
No, they won’t. They’ll introduce additional names, but the gulf itself will not be renamed.
https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/gulf-of-america-gulf-of-mexico/124571/102
I guess there’s multiple ways to address this. Google has the resources to easily serve different maps to each country, while showing multiple names is an easier strategy.
Any client could choose to prefer region-specific names, but it’s important to note that this is not the same as renaming the thing itself.