Less than two weeks after Donald Trump ordered the federal government to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America, the president has turned his attention to something much bigger. On Sunday, September 6, Trump posted a map of New Mexico with the word “Mexico” crossed out and replaced by “America.” The altered map read New America.
No executive order followed. New Mexico has not changed its name, and there is currently no formal proposal moving through the state. Still, the post is harder to dismiss as a random joke after what Trump has already done to the map. Gulf of America became official federal terminology in 2025. Mount McKinley replaced Denali in federal use. Lake Ontario became Lake America by executive order on August 27, 2026. The obvious question now is how far Trump intends to take New America.
Trump Has Already Turned Unlikely Name Changes Into Federal Policy
Trump has made geographic renaming part of his second-term political agenda. His January 2025 executive order restored Mount McKinley and directed federal agencies to use Gulf of America instead of Gulf of Mexico. The administration then went further this summer.
On August 27, Trump signed Executive Order 14422 renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America for federal purposes. The order instructed the Interior Department and U.S. Board on Geographic Names to update federal databases, maps and government documents.
Trump connected the Lake Ontario decision to his complaints about Canada, arguing that the United States contributes more to protecting and maintaining the Great Lakes. The order arrived during an increasingly bitter U.S.-Canada trade war that has already produced tariffs on billions of dollars in goods moving across the border.
Lake America therefore moved quickly from political rhetoric to an actual presidential order. That recent history is the main reason the New Mexico post has attracted more attention than a typical social media provocation.
What Trump Said About New Mexico?
The president did not announce a formal plan. His first move was visual. The map he shared showed “Mexico” crossed out from New Mexico and “America” written in its place. The White House account later amplified the image.
Trump followed with another post saying that “many people” had suggested the New America name. He also used the post to repeat his criticism of elections in New Mexico, calling it a state associated with vote cheating. No evidence establishing widespread election fraud in the state accompanied the claim.
The idea had an unusual origin. A satirical post had previously claimed Trump had already signed an executive order changing the state’s name. That claim was false. Trump then picked up the concept himself and pushed New America from satire into presidential political messaging.
Could Trump Actually Rename New Mexico by Executive Order?
Not in the same way he renamed Lake Ontario.
The federal government maintains official names for geographic features such as lakes, mountains and bays. A president can direct federal agencies to change the terminology they use within the limits of federal law. Lake Ontario fits into that system.
New Mexico is a state with its own constitution, legislature, courts and legal identity. Its name appears throughout state law and the Constitution of the State of New Mexico. A presidential order could not simply rewrite that constitution and turn the state government into the State of New America.
A real legal name change would require action inside New Mexico. The state constitution provides a process for amendments involving approval by the legislature and New Mexico voters. Any attempt to change the state’s name would therefore move far outside the relatively simple federal mapping process used for Lake America.
Trump could still try to influence federal terminology or pressure state officials. Such a move would create a political and legal fight, but it would not automatically erase New Mexico from the state constitution, government records or state institutions.
New Mexico Is Not Named After the Modern Country in the Way Some Assume
Dropping “Mexico” would also remove a name with a much longer history than the modern U.S.-Mexico border.
Nuevo México had been used for the region for centuries before New Mexico became a U.S. state. Historical material preserved by the University of New Mexico notes that the name had already been in use for more than 270 years when Congress created the New Mexico Territory in 1850.
The modern nation of Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. The regional name Nuevo México predates that event by generations.
Congress even considered replacing New Mexico’s name during its long path toward statehood. Proposed alternatives included Jefferson, Lincoln, Montezuma, Acoma and Arizona. None ultimately displaced New Mexico. The territory entered the Union under its existing name on January 6, 1912, becoming the 47th state.
New Mexico residents have therefore lived through arguments over the state’s name before. The current version arrives from a president who has already demonstrated a willingness to act on similar ideas elsewhere.
New Mexico Officials Want No Part of New America
State officials did not treat Trump’s suggestion as a welcome rebranding campaign.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected the proposal shortly after Trump posted it. In her response, she emphasized that the New Mexico name predates the United States and said it was not up for debate. Other Democratic officials from the state also pushed back against the proposal.
The reaction reported by Source New Mexico matters because any genuine state name change would require cooperation inside New Mexico, where Trump currently has little political leverage over the state government.
Politics are also part of the story. Trump has repeatedly attacked election administration in Democratic-led states and has pursued broader federal changes ahead of the 2026 midterms. NCHStats has previously covered the dispute surrounding mail-in voting rules for the 2026 midterms, another area where federal action and state election authority have collided.
Could Google Maps Start Calling It New America?
The map question is more complicated than the legal name of the state.
Google and Apple adopted Gulf of America for U.S. users after the federal government changed its official terminology. Both companies also changed Lake Ontario to Lake America for American users after Trump signed the August order.
A Truth Social image alone gives mapping companies no equivalent federal action to follow. New Mexico remains New Mexico in official state and federal usage as of September 7.
Even a future attempt by the administration to use New America in some federal materials would not necessarily mean state agencies, residents, international organizations and every mapping company would follow. Lake Ontario itself demonstrates that naming can become fragmented. MapQuest publicly refused to adopt Lake America even after the federal order, and Canada continues to use Lake Ontario.
So Is Trump Really Going to Rename New Mexico?
There is no evidence yet that a formal New Mexico name change is underway. Trump has signed no executive order, the White House has announced no legal process and New Mexico lawmakers are not preparing a statewide vote on becoming New America.
The story is still more significant than a meme. Trump has spent his second term changing names that he believes better represent his version of American identity. One of those ideas, Gulf of America, became federal policy immediately after he returned to office. Lake America followed in August.
New Mexico is where that approach runs into a much harder boundary. A lake can be renamed in federal databases by executive action. A state has a constitution, an electorate and a government of its own.
For now, New America exists on Trump’s social media feed, not on the U.S. map. After the speed with which Lake America became official federal terminology, however, the next thing to watch is not another post. It is whether Trump tries to turn the idea into an actual government action.
