US President Donald Trump has said he discussed the possibility of renaming the Atlantic Ocean on Google Maps with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, but the company was reluctant to take up the idea. Trump made the remarks during a rally in South Carolina on October 21, where he also joked about renaming the Pacific Ocean the “American Ocean” and speculated about how European leaders would react.
Trump’s comments come after his administration renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America through an executive order shortly after he took office in January 2025. He also mentioned Google co-founder Sergey Brin while praising the company’s leadership. “And I spoke to a brilliant guy, Sundar. He heads all of Google. He’s a brilliant guy. “And, you know, they’re still rattled from the Gulf. Pichai replied: “No, no, no. This time I’m not doing it. Oceans are different, sir. You know, they cover a lot of… They cover really a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that. Google Maps subsequently began displaying the new name to users in the US, while users elsewhere continued to see the Gulf of Mexico or both names, depending on their location. (Also read: Google Maps to rename Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ for US users )
Trump said he had considered renaming the Atlantic Ocean but decided against pursuing the idea after speaking to Pichai. During his speech, Trump said he had spoken to Pichai , whom he described as a “brilliant guy”, about the proposal. “So we seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean, and I called Google Maps, who were really great with the lake,” Trump told supporters at Clemson. Sergey and Sundar, totally brilliant guys,” he said, apparently referring to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
He also referred to Google’s earlier decision to display the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps for users in the United States.
