‘Lake America’? Who is responsible for naming geographic places?

( NewsNation ) — Amid an escalating trade dispute with Canada, President Trump has suggested that he could rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

It isn’t the first time the president has decided to change a body of water to reflect his personal priorities and disputes with other countries. On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

But who actually determines the names for geographic features?

The job falls to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), an organization created in 1890 and codified in its current form in 1947. The board’s function is to ensure uniform usage of geographic names within the federal government.

It originated during a time when a surge of expansion and mining led to inconsistencies in names that caused issues for surveyors, mapmakers and scientists who rely on standard names for clarity.

Over time, the BGN expanded to include the names of foreign countries and other areas of interest, standardizing the language the U.S. government uses.

As with most federal organizations, there’s bureaucracy involved. The process for submitting a name change involves a detailed proposal process and review.

The BGN enacted an official name change for the Gulf of America following the president’s executive order, starting a process to update maps, tools and federal documents.

But just because the U.S. declares a name change doesn’t mean it will be recognized elsewhere. The organization may have rechristened the Gulf of America, but much of the international community still uses the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. isn’t the only country to issue a name change that isn’t universally adopted. The U.S. government still refers to the country of Burma , which changed its name to Myanmar in 1989.

Nor is the nation alone in changing names amid larger disagreements . Conflicts over territory or national politics can lead to competing names, such as China’s South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the Eastern Sea and the Philippines the West Philippine Sea.

Similarly, the international community refers to the Persian Gulf, while Arab countries in the region use the Arabian Gulf.

Whether Trump pursues his effort to rename Lake Ontario remains to be seen.