Americans Reject Trump's 'Lake America' Renaming Attempt, Search Data Shows

Search engine data shows that residents in every US state continue to search for “Lake Ontario” over President Donald Trump’s preferred moniker, “Lake America,” following his executive order to change the body’s federal name.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten reported on Friday that Google search volume for the original name outpaced the newly rebranded title in all 50 states over the past day.

“Americans are, simply put, not convinced,” Enten told viewers. “You could see it right here. I mean, just look to Google.

“I think this gives the game away. Are Americans actually calling Lake Ontario Lake America? No! Searched more on Google in the last day: in all 50 states, all of them, Lake Ontario–more people search for Lake Ontario than Lake America, where it was 0-0-0-0 states in which more people searched for Lake America than Lake Ontario.”

The presidential action follows a breakdown in trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa, after which Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Canada announced plans to launch dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs next month.

Citing trade disputes during his announcement, the 80-year-old president said, “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade.”

Trump ordered the Department of the Interior to update the Geographic Names Information System within 30 days to reflect the alterations, adding that the rebrand was “something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the attempt to rename the shared body of water and stated that Canada would not adopt the terminology.

“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” Carney wrote on X. “The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

Carney added: “We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”

The initiative mirrors a similar executive order issued at the start of Trump’s second term in January, attempting to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Mexican officials similarly rejected the directive, citing lack of authority over international waters.

Enten noted that public search habits regarding the Gulf remained unchanged a year later.

“Searched more on Google in the last year: ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ all 50 states — all 50 states,” Enten said. “So it’s not just after one day. It is after a year in which more Americans have been searching the Gulf of Mexico than the Gulf of America.

“This name-changing stuff, simply put, it doesn’t work with the American people.”