Executive Order 14172

Executive Order 14172, titled "Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness", is an executive order signed by Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, on January 20, 2025, the day of his second inauguration.

The executive order directs U.S. federal agencies to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" and Denali, the highest mountain in North America, as "Mount McKinley" (its federal designation from 1917 to 2015). The order further outlines the process for updating the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN).

The executive order is not binding on U.S. state governments and the private sector, although several major online map platforms, U.S.-based media outlets, and Republican-led state governments voluntarily moved to adopt the names outlined in the order. Many governments internationally, including Mexico, continue to use "Gulf of Mexico" rather than the new name.

The BGN is authorized to standardize geographical endonyms and exonyms within the U.S. federal government. Within the BGN, the Foreign Names Committee is responsible for maintaining the names of international waters such as the Gulf. Ordinarily, the BGN does not perform geographical renaming but rather recognizes existing names to align federal usage with local usage, eliminate offensive names, or combine duplicate records.

Publishers have established editorial policies on the selection and presentation of disputed geographical names. The stated policy of National Geographic Maps is to aim for political neutrality, annotating disputes with explanatory notes. In 2008, Google published a "primary local usage" policy for Google Maps and Google Earth, stating a preference for "names which are in widespread daily use, rather than giving immediate recognition to any arbitrary governmental re-naming", giving the Pacific Ocean as a hypothetical example. In practice, Google Maps omits some official designations, for example varying the label of the South China Sea but not labeling the West Philippine Sea as designated by the Philippine Maritime Zones Act.

Located in Alaska, Denali is the tallest mountain in North America. For centuries, Alaska Natives have called it Denali, meaning "the high one" in the Koyukon language. Their descriptive name for the mountain contrasts with European settlers' practice of naming mountains after individuals. In 1917, the U.S. federal government named it Mount McKinley, in honor of President William McKinley, with the establishment of Mount McKinley National Park. The Alaska state government later designated it Denali, and the park was renamed Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. In August 2015, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced that mountain's name would officially be changed to Denali in all federal documents. President Barack Obama announced the renaming while on a visit to Alaska in early September 2015. The Obama administration's action was criticized by the entire congressional delegation from President McKinley's home state of Ohio, as well as then presidential candidate Donald Trump, who pledged to change the federal designation back.

In December 2024, President-elect Donald Trump stated at AmericaFest that he planned to revert the mountain's official federal name to Mount McKinley during his second term. Trump's proposal was met with criticism from many prominent Alaskans. Early the next month, a poll by Alaska Survey Research found that, among 1,816 adult Alaska residents, 54% opposed renaming Denali to Mount McKinley, 26% supported it, and 20% had no opinion on the matter, with a margin of error of 2.3%. The poll found a partisan split, with those who had voted for Trump favoring Mount McKinley by 43% to 37% and those who had voted for then-Vice President Kamala Harris favoring Denali by 86% to 7%.

For centuries, the Gulf of Mexico has been recognized by that name, which is derived from Mexica, the Nahuatl name for the Aztecs. The name began to be used on early European maps in 1550 and soon became established in international cartography and legal usage by bodies such as the International Hydrographic Organization.