Donald Trump has said Google chief executive Sundar Pichai rejected his idea of renaming the Atlantic Ocean, while the US president also floated calling the Pacific the “American Ocean”.
Speaking at a rally in Pendleton, South Carolina, Mr Trump said he had discussed the proposal with Google after the company adopted recent US government name changes for other bodies of water.
“We seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean, and I called Google Maps, who were really great with the lake,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr Trump recalled Mr Pichai responding: “No, no, no. This time, I’m not doing it.” He said the Google chief executive had explained that oceans span multiple countries and urged him: “Please don’t ask us to do that.”
“Should I pass on… I think let’s keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right?” Mr Trump asked the crowd.
He then suggested renaming the Pacific the “American Ocean” and asked how Europe would react, although no European country borders the Pacific.
The president had previously raised the idea of an Atlantic Ocean rename at a rally in Dalton, Georgia, where he said he had asked Google about calling either the Atlantic or Pacific the “Trump Ocean”.
“You know what they said? ‘We’ve had it. That’s enough. We’re not doing it anymore,’” Mr Trump said at the event last Friday.
He later said he had been joking, although he also described sending Google “a little picture” labelled “The Trump Ocean”. Mr Trump said the company had replied that oceans were different.
Limits of an Atlantic Ocean rename
Any change would be limited in its reach. A Congressional Research Service report said the US Board on Geographic Names’ Foreign Names Committee deals with the names of oceans and seas for federal purposes.
Mr Trump could direct US federal agencies to use a different name for the Atlantic or Pacific, but that would not oblige other governments or private companies to adopt it.
The issue has already arisen over Lake Ontario. An executive order signed by Mr Trump renamed it Lake America for US federal use, despite the lake being shared with Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the change, saying Canadians would continue to call it Lake Ontario “then, now and always”.
A United Nations resolution on geographical names says that where countries sharing a geographical feature cannot agree on a common name, each country’s name is accepted. That would make an ocean bordered by dozens of countries considerably more difficult to rename.
Google adopted the names Gulf of America and Lake America for users in the United States after the federal Geographic Names Information System was updated. The company has said its policy is to reflect official government sources and show different names for bodies of water depending on the country.
Users in Mexico continue to see Gulf of Mexico, while users outside the US and Mexico see both names. Canadian users continue to see Lake Ontario, while users elsewhere outside the US and Canada see both names.
Google did not respond to a request for comment on Mr Trump’s account of his conversation with Mr Pichai or on whether it had received a formal request to rename the Atlantic Ocean.
