# The "Gulf of America"? Wth? Can you just change the name of a body of water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 7, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683 "2025-01-07T18:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/121 "2025-01-11T14:09:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Schumer should be doing the same instead of dignifying Trump’s insane ideas. Renaming geographical features to hype up nationalist pride is far from insane. It is almost a standard authoritarian move. Here’s an example: > **[New Soviet Names Given to Mountains And Rivers in East (Published 1973)](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/25/archives/new-soviet-names-given-to-mountains-and-rivers-in-east.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oU4.Kkv7.8HDjqhLwBjpW&smid=url-share)** > > USSR gives Russian designations to as many as 250 rivers and mts with Chinese-sounding names in Soviet Far East in move interpreted as effort to assert Soviet sovereignty over territory; Communist China denounces Soviet action as 'despicable trick';... See also: [India protests as China renames Himalayan mountains (2023)](https://www.dw.com/en/india-protests-as-china-renames-himalayan-mountains/a-65224506) Nationalist idea? Yes. Communist idea? Yes. Insane idea? No. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/122 "2025-01-11T16:25:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Procrustus](#): > > > > Schumer is offering something stupid and meaningless in exchange for something important. > > And he’s going to get neither, because he clearly learned nothing from the way McConnell completely controlled the Senate for 16 years regardless of who was in the majority. I don’t think getting something in exchange has anything to do with Schumer’s offer. It seems to me that he is saying that while the renaming thing is a vanity move, which is in-character for the guy, but let’s get back to lowering grocery prices, which is what the “mandate” the American voter was all about. Not said is that Schumer knows Trump can exert about as much influence on grocery prices as he can on the course of a hurricane. Trump knows it, too.0 ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/123 "2025-01-11T17:57:43Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > on’t say he never stood up to Trump: > > [Gov. Abbott proposes ‘Gulf of Texas’ as alternative to Trump’s ‘Gulf of America’ rename](https://kfdm.com/news/nation-world/gov-abbott-proposes-gulf-of-texas-as-alternative-to-trumps-gulf-of-america-rename-austin-president-elect-mexico-world-map) Ummm…Florida has more than twice the Gulf coastline that Texas does, If anything the Gulf of Florida is the more appropriate name - although Mexico has more than twice the coastline that Florida does, so maybe we should name it the Gulf of Mexico 🤦‍♂️. Or we can compromise and call it the Gulf of Amerexico (Meximerican Gulf?). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/124 "2025-01-11T18:28:16Z")
Gulf of the Golfing Gringo? In Spanish that would Golfo del [**Golfo**](https://dle.rae.es/golfo#JIm89FN), which would be fitting. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/125 "2025-01-12T00:57:10Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It bugs me the most in a cartographical sense. Gulf of Texas, fine, whatever. Gulf of Louisiana would also be all right. But Gulf of America? America has lots of gulfs! Both North America _and_ South America! Actually Gulf of America makes perfect sense since it is the gulf that separates North America from South America. If you think of it that way, just be grateful he is not trying to rename it Gulf the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/126 "2025-01-12T01:02:29Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Ummm…Florida has more than twice the Gulf coastline that Texas does, If anything the Gulf of Florida is the more appropriate name - although Mexico has more than twice the coastline that Florida does, so maybe we should name it the Gulf of Mexico 🤦‍♂️. By some ways of thinking, all three have [infinite coastline.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/127 "2025-01-12T03:09:18Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > At his age, I can’t believe he’s planning 10 to 20 years ahead. Hah! Trump is smarter than all of us. He’s buddies with Elon Musk because he knows Musk is working on the Singularity, and he’ll be one of the first to have his consciousness placed in a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/128 "2025-01-12T03:37:06Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > He’s buddies with Elon Musk because he knows Musk is working on the Singularity “I’m a big fan of singularity. There’s more freedom than when you have a wife. Young men are always coming up to me and saying, sir, how should I live my life? I tell them to enjoy their singularity while they can.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/129 "2025-01-12T09:44:15Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Actually Gulf of America makes perfect sense since it is the gulf that separates North America from South America. No it isn’t - the only continent the Gulf touches is North America. The _Caribbean_ separates North and South America. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/130 "2025-01-12T11:02:49Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > and he’ll be one of the first to have his consciousness placed in a computer. I misread that as “conscience” and immediately it occured to me that both could be fit on a very small 2Mb USB stick, with space to spare. We could reserve the first 8 bytes for his “consciousness”, and a null value (2 byte in UTF) for conscience. Then use the rest of the stick to save a game of Doom, or [Snake](https://dev.to/donno2048/the-journey-of-creating-the-smallest-snake-game-in-the-world-4ell). Or maybe Pong. Not sure which fits best. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/131 "2025-01-12T14:19:16Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Ummm…Florida has more than twice the Gulf coastline that Texas does, While Florida has the most Gulf coastline of any US state (5,095 miles [according to NOAA](https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf)), that’s still significantly less than twice as much as Texas (3,359 miles). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/132 "2025-01-12T15:20:05Z")
Does that include the Keys? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/133 "2025-01-12T16:23:20Z")
You’re using Tidal, I was using General (770 v. 367) from the same source. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/134 "2025-01-12T16:32:30Z")
Fair enough, I’m no coastline expert. Of course I find the idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico at all to be ludicrous, but like any good troll that’s what Trump wants. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/135 "2025-01-12T18:33:35Z")
He could fit in a flip phone with room left over. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/136 "2025-01-21T03:37:03Z")
Trump today issued an executive order to rename said body of water: [Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/) I think this provision means that they have thought through what is needed to get their way: > [@](#): > > Within seven days of the date of this order, each agency head with authority to appoint members to the Board on Geographic Names (Board) pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 364a, shall review their respective appointees and consider replacing those appointees in accordance with applicable law. Of course, this just applies to U.S. government maps, such as those seen at [weather.gov](http://weather.gov). It will be interesting to see what news media will do. FoxNews obviously will say Gulf of America during the next hurricane season. The Guardian will still say Gulf of Mexico. Anyone care to predict what ABC, NBC, CBS, and the New York Times will do? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/137 "2025-01-21T03:41:55Z")
I’ll be referring to it as the Gulf of Fuck Donald Trump, for whatever that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/138 "2025-01-21T03:42:41Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Anyone care to predict what ABC, NBC, CBS, and the New York Times will do? In the fine tradition of independent journalism, they’ll cave. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/139 "2025-01-21T04:02:50Z")
So, basically, the order is to appoint people who will eventually be represented on a board that will eventually get around to this? Yeah, so I’m not thinking the odds are good that nothing else happens to either district him (and the rest of America) or forget about it in the next dozen (or more) news cycles. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683/140 "2025-01-21T04:13:44Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > So, basically, the order is to appoint people who will eventually be represented on a board that will eventually get around to this? The Executive Order I linked says they have no more than 30 days. Trump knows some of his orders were slow-walked last time and is working to stop it from happening again. This should be another good test of the Trump-is-an-idiot hypothesis. I think he, or at least his people, will stay on top of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gulf-of-america-wth-can-you-just-change-the-name-of-a-body-of-water/1012683.md?page=8)