The US State Department has sparked a fresh wave of reactions online after joking that it had “deadnamed” Lake America by mistakenly referring to the body of water as Lake Ontario on its website.
We have corrected this mistake and apologize for deadnaming the lake,” the State Department wrote. The renaming has become another flashpoint in the already strained relationship between Washington and Ottawa. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the new name, saying the lake’s name predates both Canada and the United States .
The lake, one of North America’s five Great Lakes, sits along the US -Canada border, with about 52% of its surface area in Canada and the remainder in New York.
In a post on X, the department said it had been alerted to the error and had corrected the reference. “It was brought to our attention that Lake America was erroneously labeled as Lake “ Ontario ” on our website. Trump announced the change on August 27, saying the name “Lake America” would take effect immediately. “Fun fact: roughly 52% of “Lake America” is in Canada,” another said on X .
The unusual wording comes days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America for US federal purposes. Earlier reporting noted: Trump announced the name change amid the escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada as both countries impose steep tariffs on each other’s goods. The order does not require Canada, international organizations or private entities to adopt the new name. The episode comes as the administration’s broader push to change geographic names continues to generate debate. The latest Lake America order has similarly created a split between the US federal government’s terminology and the name used by Canadian officials and others.
For now, Lake Ontario remains the established name internationally, while “Lake America” is the designation the Trump administration has directed US federal agencies to use. 2025 post goes viral amid US-Canada trade war A January 2025 social media post from the parody account “Jack Kimble” has gone viral after President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America. The old post garnered significant attention, with many online users asking whether the satirical account had somehow “predicted” Trump’s move.
Trump previously ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be referred to as the Gulf of America in federal usage. Earlier reporting noted: Did ‘Jack Kimble’ predict Trump’s Lake Ontario name change? Earlier reporting noted: Earlier this year, CNN also issued an on-air apology after quoting a fake statement from the Kimble account regarding Senator Mitch McConnell’s health during a segment.
