The Wikipedia entry for Lake Ontario became a battleground for the dumbest culture war of the month on Thursday as supporters of President Donald Trump repeatedly tried to rename the entry as Lake America.
Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Thursday declaring Lake Ontario would henceforth be known as Lake America. It’s an infantile decision that few people outside the U.S. are likely to recognize, but it’s galvanized MAGA true believers who love nothing more than when the president supposedly owns the libs.
The Talk section of the Wikipedia entry was filled with back-and-forth from Trump supporters who clearly thought it was a huge victory for Trump to declare that Lake Ontario had been renamed.
“It’s been changed officially. You can call him ‘unstable’ all you like, you leftie. But it is what it is – the name is changed,” one person wrote.
the wikipedia page edit history for lake ontario is destroying me pic.twitter.com/HHieNHLIoC
— Ada ☀️ SUNNY 18 ☀️ (@okitanoniisan) August 27, 2026
The majority of people clearly thought it was warranted to mention Trump’s actions but not to otherwise radically alter the article. At the time of this writing, a section called “Name” explained both the history of the name Ontario as well as Trump’s executive order but didn’t discuss the legality of such a change.
Google and Apple both changed their maps after Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America when he first returned to office in Jan. 2025, but didn’t respond to questions emailed Thursday about what they planned to do with Trump’s latest attempt to rename Lake Ontario.
The Wikipedia page for the Gulf of Mexico still reads as the Gulf of Mexico and only refers to the “Gulf of America” in a paragraph describing Trump’s executive order on that.
Some far-right commentators like Libs of TikTok cheered on Trump’s name change, describing it as “freaking epic,” and suggesting that he should rename the Atlantic Ocean as “East American Ocean” and the Pacific Ocean as “West American Ocean.”
This MUST happen
Would be so freaking epic
The map never looked this good 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/4nXtADH6h5 pic.twitter.com/XZ8VrY69qh
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 27, 2026
Not every Trump supporter was celebrating. Matt Walsh, the far-right anti-trans activist, pointed out the history of the name Ontario, writing on X, “Canadians never uniquely owned the lake or the name. So in effect all you’re doing here is actually giving them credit for a thing that wasn’t theirs to begin with.”
There were also plenty of jokes, including a video from Wisconsin governor Tony Evers, who showed himself writing “Lake Wisconsin” on a napkin in order to rename Lake Michigan.
And I just renamed Lake Michigan Lake Wisconsin. See, I can sign napkins that say things, too. https://t.co/ZhhsuJlt3U pic.twitter.com/yrnvPuuC4t
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) August 27, 2026
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, tweeted his own joke renaming Trump Tower in Chicago to “Natalie,” a reference to his creepy right-hand woman Natalie Harp.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: Trump Tower is renamed to NATALIE TOWER! https://t.co/5wTAHjJzrX pic.twitter.com/jeWMSC8f4E
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) August 27, 2026
The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, did his own explainer in a tweet Thursday that was understandably far more serious.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means .the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’. 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,” wrote Carney.
“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,” he continued.
