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President Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” effective immediately for U.S. federal maps and documents. He says it’s been on his mind a long time. The rest of us are just trying to figure out what the actual problem is.
The real reasons are pretty simple, and none of them hold up.
First, the trade war. Talks with Canada collapsed, tariffs went up, and suddenly the easternmost Great Lake became the perfect target for a symbolic jab. He posted a map with the name crossed out in red and a video of himself writing “Lake America” over it. It’s not a policy. It’s a tantrum with a pen.
Second, the name sounds Canadian. Lake Ontario shares its name with the province, so it must be theirs, right? Wrong. The word comes from an Iroquoian term—roughly “lake of shining waters” or “beautiful lake.” Europeans were writing it down by the 1640s. The province didn’t exist until 1867. The lake named the province, not the other way around.
Third, the volume argument. The administration claims most of the water and the deepest parts sit in U.S. territory, so it should be American. About half the surface area is Canadian. The lake doesn’t care about the border. It just sits there, reflecting the sky, while we argue over whose flag it should fly.
And fourth, the pattern. He already did the Gulf of Mexico. Now the lake. Next he’ll want the Atlantic. “We have a gulf and a lake – now all we need is an ocean,” he said. At this rate, the map of North America is going to look like a real estate listing.
Here’s the thing: names stick because people use them, not because a president signs a paper. Canada isn’t changing it. New York isn’t changing it. The fishermen, the sailors, the people who live on the shore – they’re still calling it Lake Ontario. Let’s be clear. The water doesn’t answer to Washington.
You can rename a lake on a federal database. You can’t rename the lake itself. It was shining long before any of us showed up, and it’ll keep shining after the executive order is forgotten.
Call it what you want in the paperwork. The rest of us will keep looking at the water and seeing the same old name.
Now let’s talk about what actually matters in that water – the fish.
Lake Ontario is one of the best salmon and trout fisheries in the entire Great Lakes system. Right now, in late August and early September, the kings are staging. Mature Chinook salmon – sometimes thirty pounds or more – are moving toward the river mouths and harbors, getting ready for their fall spawning run. Anglers out of places like Oswego, Olcott, and Wilson are trolling deep, fifty to a hundred feet down, with spoons and meat rigs, and limits are common.
The New York side alone supports hundreds of thousands of angler days a year. Back in 2020, Lake Ontario anglers spent over three hundred forty million dollars between the U.S. and Canada. That money goes to bait shops, marinas, motels, and diners in small towns that don’t have much else going for them.
The lake also holds lake trout, brown trout, steelhead, and walleye in the Bay of Quinte. It’s a working fishery, not a postcard. People plan their whole year around the fall derby. They buy boats, licenses, and gear. They talk about the bite the way other people talk about the weather.
An executive order doesn’t change any of that. The salmon don’t read federal databases. The trout don’t care what the Geographic Names Information System says. A charter captain in Wilson is still going to say “we’re heading out on Lake Ontario” because that’s what the lake has been called since before either country existed. The Wendat people gave it that name centuries ago. The U.S. government can update its maps, but it can’t update the fish.
There’s also the practical mess. The lake is shared under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Canada and the U.S. manage water levels, pollution, and navigation together through the International Joint Commission.
Renaming one side “Lake America” while the other side stays “Lake Ontario” creates two names for one body of water. That’s not patriotism. That’s just confusing for pilots, boaters, and anyone trying to read a chart.
The deeper problem is the attitude. This isn’t about honoring American history. It’s about scoring points in a trade fight by grabbing something that belongs to everyone.
The Great Lakes are a shared resource. They don’t belong to one president any more than the Mississippi River belongs to a governor. When you start renaming shared water to own the other side, you’re not making America greater. You’re just making the map uglier.
So keep the name. Keep fishing. Keep the cooperation that has kept the lakes clean and the borders peaceful for over a century. The water will still be there, still shining, still full of kings, long after the executive order is filed away and forgotten.
Lake Ontario. That’s what it was. That’s what it is. That’s what it will be.
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, former Shippensburg University Trustee, awarded numerous patents, as well as Founder and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for automated sourcing and managing of mail marketing, swag, packaging, and all things print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill@eLynxx.com
