Gulfs, lakes and cities: How places get their names
Is it the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America? The answer may depend on where you live. Here's a look at how we collectively agree what a place is called
Wreckhouse winds. Snow squalls off Lake Huron. Colorado lows. Keeping track of the weather is as much a geography lesson as anything.
Place names, or toponyms, are integral in our daily lives. Just the words “Canada” or “the Rockies” can evoke a rich sense of emotion and pride, a complex feeling that flows through one’s heart with the most basic sense of place and belonging.
For as important as places are in our society, how do we agree on what a place is called, anyway?
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Names come, and some names go
Many longstanding place names came from Indigenous peoples, explorers, and colonizers—and those labels tend to stick over time. The name “Canada” has been in use since the mid-1500s. Ottawa, on the other hand, was originally known as “Bytown” for the first five years of its existence in the 1850s.
While some toponyms have endured since they entered common usage, others are on less steady ground. Place names made prominent news in 2025 after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the renaming of a major body of water.
Shortly after taking office, Trump directed the federal government to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, citing “its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people.”
How a place gets its name
Just about every country has its own agency responsible for maintaining toponyms within their national boundaries. American presidents can unilaterally order the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to rename any geographical feature in the country.
But no one country has to follow another country’s standards. As a result, the rest of the world will likely continue calling the Gulf of Mexico by that long-held name.
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Meanwhile, Canadian place names are standardized by the Geographical Names Board of Canada. This board is chaired by a person appointed by the Minister of Natural Resources Canada, and it consists of representatives sent by each province and territory, as well as agencies like Parks Canada. There are also Indigenous advisors who contribute to the board.
The United Nations even has the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, a group that recommends standards and guidelines for the sometimes-touchy task of what to call different places and features around the world.
Weather takes its cue from geography
Place names are determined as much by history as they are by boards and decrees.
Ever encounter snow squalls off Lake Huron? The lake earned its name from the Wendat people, who were called the Huron by French explorers. Georgian Bay derived its name from King George IV, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
Wreckhouse winds blow across Cape Ray on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland. The Wreckhouse region where these winds blow likely earned that name in honour of the damaging winds themselves.
Atlantic Canada is sometimes threatened by Cabo Verde hurricanes. These storms get their start near the Cabo Verde Islands, an archipelago off western Africa. Portuguese settlers named the islands when they landed in the region in the 15th century. Storms that form in this region can rapidly intensify into some of the Atlantic’s strongest hurricanes.
Meteorologists often refer to low-pressure systems based on where they develop. Alberta clippers need no introduction for winter-hardy Canadians. Colorado and Texas lows form near their respective states and follow relatively predictable (and disruptive) paths into Canada.
As for the Gulf of Mexico?
The first reference to that name appeared on a world map back in 1550, according to a 1954 publication issued by NOAA, and the title has been in widespread use by the international community ever since. The name is also officially documented in the Limits of Oceans and Seas, a standardized list maintained by the International Hydrographic Organization.