On August 27th, current president Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order. In it, he changed Lake Ontario’ was’s name to “Lake America”, effective immediately. This petulant behavior is likely in retaliation against Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney refusing his latest tariff demands. The response he has gotten in return, is “No.”
HOMES Acronym has Turned into SHAME
Every Canadian grammar/elementary school child learns the HOMES acronym to learn the names of the great lakes. The letters refer to lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, respectively.
Trump’s executive order may update Lake Ontario’s name in the USA, but that’s the only place it’s going to change. Canada isn’t going to adopt this change. As such, when people from the United States look at a map, they’ll see the updated name. Canadians will see Lake Ontario as it has always been, and international searchers will see both names listed.
New York governor Kathy Hochul’s Press Office posted their thoughts about this on X, saying that although the classic Great Lakes acronym has always been “HOMES”, it has now turned into “SHAME”.
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President of the Seneca Nation Asks Trump to Reverse the Order
J. Conrad Seneca is the president of the Indigenous Seneca Nation. He referred to Trump’s order as “unpresidential”, and requested for the it to be reversed.
“The name Lake Ontario should be left as it is, reflective of the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations and all Indigenous people surrounding the lake.”
Seneca explained that this lake’s name has Indigenous origins. The Seneca, Wendat, and other nations who have always lived around Lake Ontario speak Northern Iroquoian/Five Nation dialects. These include Mohawk (Kanien’kéha), Onondaga (Onoñdaʼgegáʼ), Oneida (Onyota’a:aka), Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ), Wendat/Wyandot (Huron), Petun, and Seneca.
Prime Minister Mark Carney supported this stance on X:
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’.
The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.
Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.'”Related Article: Trump Orders Alcatraz Prison Reopened
Global Allies Support Lake Ontario Keeping its Name
People from around the world have been discussing this change on social media. The overwhelming response is that this executive order is “ridiculous”, and that it’ll go back to normal in 2028.
Others have been questioning Trump’s mental state, implying that behavior like this may indicate dementia.
Ontario’s Premier, Doug Ford, responded to this order in grand style. On the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, he posted a billboard-sized message, in both English and French:
“Lake Ontario. Now and always.”
Featured photo by Berkay Gumustekin on Unsplash