--- title: "Trump Says He Called the CEO of Google to Rename the Atlantic Ocean" description: "President Donald Trump claims he called Google CEO Sundar Pichai about renaming the entire Atlantic Ocean." date: "2026-10-23" modified: "2026-10-23" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/trump-called-google-to-rename-the-atlantic-ocean" categories: - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" --- # Trump Says He Called the CEO of Google to Rename the Atlantic Ocean ![A photo shows Donald Trump at a rally.]() *Shutterstock / Frantisek Bezdek* President Donald Trump called Google to rename the Atlantic Ocean — at least according to the [not always reliable]() [recollection of Donald Trump](). During one of his typical off-script anecdotes while addressing his supporters at a South Carolina rally Wednesday, Trump [recalled his attempt]() to convince the tech titan's CEO Sundar Pichai to carry out his geographical whim. At the time, renaming the ocean "either Trump or America" was something that Trump said his administration was "seriously" considering. "I called Google Maps," Trump told the crowd. "I said, 'Sundar, I'm thinking of the Atlantic Ocean, can you handle it?'" Pichai, whom Trump described as "still rattled from the Gulf," wouldn't even entertain the idea. "'No, no, no, this time I'm not doing it,'" he allegedly told the president. "'Oceans are different sir,'" he pleaded. "'They cover really a lot of countries. Please don't ask us to do that.'" Trump has exhibited a bizarre — you could say despotic — fixation with overturning the long-accepted name for stuff on the map that, in keeping with his eye for controversy, shares borders with other countries. After taking office in January 2025, he signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America." This summer, he sparked a diplomatic crisis with Canada by doing the same to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America." Earlier this month, he [demanded]() the state of New Mexico be rechristened as, you guessed it, "New America." His supporters extoll his background as a businessman, and here's that classic corporate impulse to needlessly rebrand things in full view. Google's role in all this can't be overlooked. It has swiftly complied with both of Trump's executive orders, and in the case of "Lake America," did so [even before official government map makers did](). Regardless, Google has cast itself as a neutral arbiter, arguing that applying Trump's new names reflected its policy to adhere to the US Geographic Names Information System. It's intriguing then, to hear Trump say that Google's Pichai gave him some pushback, though you almost wish out of morbid curiosity that he didn't — if only to see the kind of chaos that would unfold. For now, Trump sounds like he's given up on the idea. "Should I pass on?" he asked his supporter. "I think let's keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right?" **More on Trump:** [*Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Secretly Ordered Cybersecurity Operatives to Acquire a Voting Machine and Hack It*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()