Is “Lake America” on Your Website’s Google Map? Here’s How to Fix It

Quick answer: Embedded Google Maps load U.S. map data unless your code says otherwise, so Canadian websites can display “Lake America” instead of Lake Ontario. Add a region parameter set to Canada (region=CA) to your embed code and clear your caches.

If your website has an embedded Google Map showing southern Ontario, some of your visitors may now be looking at a Great Lake labelled “Lake America.” You didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s usually a fifteen-minute fix.

Why it’s happening

An August 27 U.S. executive order renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” within the United States, and the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) made it official. Google Maps pulls place names from official government sources, so it updated on August 29: U.S. users see “Lake America,” Canadian users see “Lake Ontario,” everyone else sees both.

So why is your Canadian website showing the American version? Because an embedded map isn’t the same as a visitor using Google Maps directly. Your code decides which regional dataset loads — not the visitor’s location. With no region specified, Google serves its default.

Google confirmed as much: a spokesperson told Axios that developers embedding maps can select a region to control how place names display, and “Lake Ontario” appears when that region is Canada. Ontario’s Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, Stephen Crawford, has said the province is actively reviewing its own sites for this.

How to fix it

View your page source and search for google.com/maps or maps.googleapis.com. What follows tells you which fix applies.

1. A “Share → Embed a map” iframe

The most common setup. The giveaway is maps/embed?pb= followed by a long string of exclamation marks and numbers.

Appending &region=ca to this URL is not a supported fix — you’ll see that advice around, but pb= is an internal, undocumented URL format outside the published Embed API. Two things that do work:

Easiest: open google.ca/maps from within Canada, find your location, click Share → Embed a map, and replace your iframe with the fresh code. Note the country code at the end of the pb string — a US-generated embed reads !2sus, a Canadian one reads !2sca. Replace the whole iframe rather than hand-editing that string; editing it can produce an “Invalid ‘pb’ parameter” error that breaks the map entirely.

More durable: switch to the official Maps Embed API, which supports the documented region parameter. It’s free with unlimited usage, though you’ll need a Google Cloud project with billing enabled to generate a key.

html

<iframe
  src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=YOUR_API_KEY&q=CN+Tower,Toronto+ON&region=CA&language=en"
  width="600" height="450" style="border:0"
  allowfullscreen loading="lazy"
  referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin">
</iframe>

Restrict the key to your own domain in the Cloud console and enable only the Embed API on it.

2. The Maps JavaScript API

Custom maps with multiple pins, styling or clickable markers use this. Add &region=CA to the loader:

html

<script async
  src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_API_KEY&loading=async&region=CA&language=en&callback=initMap">
</script>

On the newer dynamic library import, set it in the config object: ({key: "YOUR_API_KEY", v: "weekly", region: "CA", language: "en"});

3. A WordPress plugin or page builder

Check the plugin settings first — WP Go Maps, Elementor and Divi often expose a Language or Region field. Set it to Canada and you’re done.

If there’s no such option, force the parameter onto whatever script the plugin enqueues. Drop this in your child theme’s functions.php or a snippets plugin:

php

add_filter( 'script_loader_src', function( $src, $handle ) {
    if ( false === strpos( $src, 'maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js' ) ) {
        return $src;
    }
    if ( false !== strpos( $src, 'region=' ) ) {
        return $src;
    }
    return add_query_arg( array( 'region' => 'CA', 'language' => 'en' ), $src );
}, 10, 2 );

Test on staging. A few plugins build their loader URL inside JavaScript and won’t be caught by this filter.

Then clear every cache

Caching plugin, CDN (a full purge, not selective), server-level cache, and your browser. Skipping the CDN is the usual reason someone swears the fix didn’t work.

How to actually test it from Canada

Here’s the catch: sitting in Canada, your map already shows “Lake Ontario” regardless of what your code says. You can’t see the problem or confirm the fix from a Canadian connection.

The reliable check is to temporarily set region=US on staging. If the label flips to “Lake America,” the parameter is being read and applied — so region=CA is working too. Set it back. A VPN or a screenshot from a U.S. contact also works.

Worth doing either way

Setting region and language is just correct configuration for a Canadian organization, independent of any one naming dispute. It affects borders, address formatting, place-name spelling and geocoding results. Two parameters is cheap insurance against the next time an official registry change ripples through somebody’s database.

Need a hand?

Rebel Trail clients: we’re auditing the sites we host and manage, and we’ll reach out if yours needs a change. Nothing for you to do.

Everyone else: if you’ve found a “Lake America” on your site, or you’re not sure which scenario above applies to you, get in touch and we’ll take a look.

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