Pennsylvania Representative Advocates for Renaming Lake Erie

Pennsylvania state Representative David Maloney, a Republican, is urging President Donald Trump to rename Lake Erie to ‘Lake Pennsylvania.’ This initiative follows Trump’s previous efforts to rename geographical bodies.

Maloney is drafting a resolution to convince Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to proceed with renaming Lake Erie. He emphasizes the need to align the lake’s designation with its modern identity.

‘This is Pennsylvania’s only Great Lake. Its modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families, and tourists who come to enjoy it. Ohio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others.’

Maloney elaborated, emphasizing Pennsylvania’s distinct connection to the lake and stating, ‘Pennsylvania has one. Let’s call it Lake Pennsylvania!’

Lake Erie is the smallest and shallowest of the Great Lakes by volume, hosting about 12 million people in its watershed—10.5 million in the U.S. and 1.9 million in Canada, as noted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

This renaming proposal emerges after Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America,’ a move rejected by Canada.

‘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,’ said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

While Trump’s order is only recognized by the U.S. federal government, applications like Apple Maps and Google Maps have updated the name for U.S. users.

Further changes proposed by Trump include renaming New Mexico to ‘New America,’ leading to pushback from state Democratic lawmakers urging map services to maintain the state’s current name.

Trump has suggested renaming the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. His order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ followed suit, affecting only the U.S. federal level.

Similarly, Apple Maps and Google Maps implemented region-based updates, aligning with the user’s location to reflect these changes.