After renaming Lake Ontario, Google CEO rejects US request to rename Atlantic Ocean
Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly rejected a request from President Trump to rename the Atlantic Ocean to 'Trump Ocean' on Google Maps. This follows previous US administration actions to rename geographic features like Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico.
Why it matters
The report illustrates the intersection of political executive power, corporate autonomy, and the global standardization of geographic naming conventions.
President Trump, who floated the idea of renaming ‘Atlantic Ocean’ to ‘Trump Ocean’ earlier this month, has once again raised the possibility of renaming the ocean. Speaking at an event recently, Trump revealed that he called Google Maps and asked to rename the Atlantic Ocean. He said that Google CEO Sundar Pichai replied to his proposal saying: “No, no, no. This time I'm not doing it.” According to Trump, Pichai said, “Oceans are different, sir. They cover a lot of countries. Please don't ask us to do that.” This comes months after Google renamed 'Lake Ontario' to 'Lake America' in the US following an executive order signed by Trump.Trump wants to rename ‘Atlantic Ocean’ to ‘Trump Ocean’As mentioned above, Trump first discussed renaming the Atlantic Ocean this month. “We’ve got the gulf. We’ve got a beautiful lake,” Trump said during a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee.
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