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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Google Maps have implemented the controversial name change.
The shift follows an official update by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and was reinforced by a proclamation from President Donald Trump, who on Sunday, Feb. 9, declared the date as the first-ever Gulf of America Day.
The announcement came directly from US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who posted on social media that the FAA would begin referencing “Gulf of America” on official pilot charts.
The statement also signaled a reversal of another aviation terminology change, stating that the FAA will resume using “Notice to Airmen” instead of “Notice to Air Missions.”
“Thanks to President Trump, we are taking back our language, our history, and our country,” Duffy wrote in his post.
According to a Google Maps press release, the company has already begun rolling out the new naming convention.
For users in the US, the Gulf of America will now appear on Google Maps. Meanwhile, in Mexico, the water body will continue to be labeled as the Gulf of Mexico. Internationally, both names will be displayed. (Click on the second image above.)
“The names you see in the Maps app are based on your country location,” the company stated, explaining that the designation depends on user settings such as phone region, network, and device locale.
The name change is the latest move in a series of revisions aimed at reasserting historical US place names. President Trump, while en route to the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Air Force One, signed an executive proclamation cementing the name change and recognizing Sunday, Feb. 9 as Gulf of America Day.
The name "Gulf of Mexico" (Spanish: golfo de México; French: golphe du Mexique, later golfe du Mexique) first appeared on a world map in 1550 and a historical account in 1552.
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