The Associated Press says it will continue to refer to Lake Ontario by its original name, and not Lake America.
It says that as a global news agency, it must ensure place names are easily recognizable to broad audiences, noting Canada has said it will not be following the name change decreed by U.S. President Donald Trump in an executive order.
The guidance note says staff should refer to the body of water as Lake Ontario, acknowledging and explaining the name Trump has chosen if it’s relevant to a story.
It says no single body determines the names of international bodies of water, although Trump has “wide latitude over how the U.S. government recognizes geographic places and landmarks.”
The note lists other places whose names Trump has sought to change by executive order, including North America’s tallest peak, which he reverted to Mount McKinley from Denali, and the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump said should be called the Gulf of America.
The agency says it now refers to Mount McKinley because it lies solely in the United States and Trump has authority to change federal geographical names, while it continues to refer to the Gulf of Mexico, which forms a shared border between Mexico and the United States.
The agency’s guidance acknowledges the long history of Lake Ontario’s name.
“Lake Ontario has carried that name for more than 400 years. The word ‘Ontario’ is derived from the northern Iroquoian language family,” it says, adding that the province of Ontario took its name from the lake.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
