Lake America (Lake Ontario), between the province of Ontario, Canada and New York State. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors. Map providers may continue to display the name Lake Ontario until they adopt the new US name.
Where is Lake America?
Lake America is the easternmost of the five Great Lakes of North America. Canada lies on its northern shore and the United States on its southern shore. The border between the two countries runs through the middle of the lake, which is why the renaming applies only on the US side of the paperwork.
Water enters the lake mainly from the Niagara River, which carries the outflow of Lake Erie over Niagara Falls, and leaves through the St. Lawrence River at Kingston on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Thousand Islands sit in that outlet.
| US federal name (from Aug 27, 2026) | Lake America |
| Name used by Canada and internationally | Lake Ontario |
| Countries on its shore | Canada (Ontario) and United States (New York) |
| Largest cities on the lake | Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga, Kingston (Canada); Rochester, Oswego (United States) |
| Place among the Great Lakes | Smallest surface area of the five, but far deeper than Lake Erie, so it holds several times more water than Erie does |
| Water in | Niagara River (from Lake Erie, over Niagara Falls) |
| Water out | St. Lawrence River, at Kingston, through the Thousand Islands |
| Origin of the old name | "Ontario" comes from an Iroquoian word usually translated as "beautiful lake" or "lake of shining waters". The province of Ontario was named after the lake, not the other way around |
What the executive order actually does
President Trump signs the executive order in the Oval Office, directing the Department of the Interior to change the lake's name to Lake America in the Geographic Names Information System, the database of official US place names. The president calls it official and effective immediately.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejects the change and says Canada will continue to call it Lake Ontario. The order binds US federal agencies only; it cannot rename the lake for Canada or for international bodies.
In January 2025, the same mechanism renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. US federal agencies switched immediately, and Google Maps adopted the new name for users in the United States within weeks, showing both names to users elsewhere. Map providers have not yet announced what they will do about Lake America.
Common questions
Do I have to call it Lake America?
No. The order changes what US federal agencies, documents, and maps call the lake. States, businesses, other countries, and ordinary people can use whichever name they choose, and in Canada the official name remains Lake Ontario.
Does anything change for boaters, anglers, or property owners?
The water, the border, fishing licenses, and property records are untouched. New York State has not announced a change to its own agency naming as of publication. The practical change is limited to federal maps, charts, and documents as they are updated.
Why was it renamed?
The order frames the change as honoring American history on the Great Lakes. Reporting on the signing places it in the context of the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and Canada, after repeated public statements by the president that he would rename the lake.
Has a Great Lake ever been renamed before?
Not in modern US federal practice. The five names (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario) have been stable on US maps since the 1800s. This is the first executive-order renaming of a Great Lake.
What do the other Great Lakes' names mean?
Superior is from the French "lac supérieur", the upper lake. Michigan and Huron come from Native American words and peoples, Erie from the Erie people, and Ontario from an Iroquoian word for beautiful lake. Four of the five names have Indigenous roots.