Trump had ordered the name changes as part of a flurry of executive actions hours after taking office on Monday, making good on a campaign promise.
The Interior Department said in a statement directed by the President that the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America’s highest peak Alaskan peak Denali will again bear the name Mount McKinley.
Similarly, Alaska’s towering peak had been called Mount McKinley before, in honor of former U.S. President William McKinley, but was renamed Denali – meaning tall in the Koyukon Indigenous language – in 1975 at the state’s request.
The department said the changes reaffirm the Nation’s commitment to preserving the extraordinary heritage of the United States and ensuring that future generations of Americans celebrate the legacy of its heroes and historic assets.
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Trump, in his inaugural address on Monday, said McKinley, a Republican who was president from 1897 to 1901, made the country very rich through tariffs and through talent.
McKinley was head of the U.S. in an expansionist era, gaining Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico as territories.
While Trump can direct the U.S. Geological Survey to change how it denotes the Gulf of Mexico, such a name change would unlikely be recognized internationally.
Mexico, which like the U.S. has a long coastline circling the body of water, has said the Gulf of Mexico name is internationally recognized and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going back hundreds of years.
Meanwhile, Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed Mexican America – an historic name used on an early map of the region.