President Donald Trump's suggestion he might rename the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump Strait has irked some employees of the US Geological Survey, which oversees map names on the federal level.
Several workers described a gloomy atmosphere at the agency since Mr Trump ordered the federal government to refer to Lake Ontario as Lake America amid a trade dispute with Canada.
"I'm not happy," said one of the USGS staffers, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. "We've had other controversies about names before, but never something like this."
Name changes are usually agreed by a vote at the US Board on Geographic Names, not via executive order. The staffer said there is some precedent for such orders, but noted the Lake Ontario name change comes as Mr Trump's popularity hovers around all-time lows.
"This is all so annoying because we have a lot of work to do and we're dealing with this," the USGS employee said, adding that the agency must now change signs, maps and other references to Lake Ontario.
"It's costing taxpayer dollars and human time to do this work," the employee said. "It is all so unnecessary."
Another wrinkle is that both Apple and Google say they use USGS information to label their map software on billions of smartphones around the world.
Both companies changed Lake Ontario to Lake America for US users as a result, causing anger towards Mr Trump to spill over on to the two US technology giants.
Several days ago, when announcing the forthcoming change of Lake Ontario's name, Mr Trump posted an email from agency director Ned Mamula stating that the switch had been made in USGS systems.
“As of 4.30pm today, the US Geological Survey has officially designated the former Lake Ontario to be renamed as Lake America in all official USGS electronic documents … the change will begin occurring in printed documents over the next several days,” the USGS director wrote.
Mr Mamula is a Trump appointee and was confirmed by the US Senate in 2025, but not without dissent. Senator Martin Heinrich, a Democrat, voted against his nomination.
"I am troubled by Mr Mamula’s track record of spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories, and I do not believe he is the correct choice to lead the USGS, an agency that prides itself on delivering unbiased, impartial, and objective scientific information," Mr Heinrich said last year.
Mr Mamula did not respond to requests for comment.
During a visit to USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia, The National was told to send an email seeking comment. A USGS public affairs official then said the agency would not be commenting.
An emailed response referred to a social media post by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on August 27, in which the interior secretary gave a justification for renaming Lake Ontario.
Another USGS employee pointed out that although former president Barack Obama had used an executive order to change the name of Alaska's Mount McKinley to its native name of Mount Denali, that change occurred in 2015, before US politics became as polarised as it is now. The Trump administration reversed Mr Obama's name change last year.
"Nothing is looked at rationally anymore," the USGS staffer said, suggesting that Mr Trump's main motivation in changing the name of Lake Ontario was to annoy Canada.
As for Mr Trump musing about changing the name of the Strait of Hormuz amid the current US conflict with Iran, the USGS workers said any changes would only reflect in the US.
"There's the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and they do the international map standards for US federal agencies," one of USGS workers explained.
"Even if that happened, much like Canada and others still call it Lake Ontario, it obviously wouldn't change for other countries."
Mr Trump later seemed to play down his comments about renaming the Strait of Hormuz, but given his penchant for mercurial decision making, some USGS employees don't know what to expect.
