The latest Canada–U.S. naming dispute has taken an unexpectedly Canadian turn — and an obscure lake in Northern Ontario has somehow found itself in the middle of it.
After U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” the move was quickly rejected by Canadian officials and widely mocked online. Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by emphasizing the historic origins of the Lake Ontario name and making clear that, as far as Canada is concerned, it remains Lake Ontario.
But some Ontarians have come up with a considerably more mischievous response.
There Really Is a Trump Lake
It turns out that Northern Ontario already has a body of water called Trump Lake — and its unfortunate timing has made it an instant target for tongue-in-cheek renaming campaigns.
A Sault Ste. Marie law firm drew attention to the lake on social media, inviting Canadians to suggest potential new names. The responses ranged from satirical digs at the U.S. president to one suggestion that quickly gained traction: rename it after Barack Obama.
The idea is essentially political trolling by geography. Given the famously antagonistic relationship between Trump and his presidential predecessor, supporters of the proposal argue that “Obama Lake” would be a particularly pointed Canadian response.
And people aren’t stopping at social media jokes.
The Internet Has Plenty of Suggestions
A petition has already emerged calling for Trump Lake to receive a new name, although its organizer chose the provocative “Lake Release the Files” rather than Obama Lake, referencing controversy surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Meanwhile, the Obama idea has spread beyond Trump Lake itself.
Some social media users have jokingly proposed renaming one of the Great Lakes after the former president, while MapQuest created an online feature allowing users to give Lake Ontario whatever alternative name they please.
Even U.S. presidential historian Tim Naftali joined the conversation, suggesting that Canada could respond by calling Lake Superior “Lake Obama” — an idea clearly intended to illustrate the absurdity of countries attempting to rename shared or internationally recognized geographic landmarks for political purposes.
There’s Some History Behind the Naming Feud
The episode follows other controversial geographic renaming decisions south of the border.
In 2025, Trump reversed the Obama-era decision recognizing Alaska’s highest mountain as Denali, restoring the federal name Mount McKinley. His administration also adopted “Gulf of America” as the U.S. federal name for the Gulf of Mexico.
Now Lake Ontario has become the latest target — although an American executive order does not determine what Canadians call a geographic feature partly within Canadian territory.
There is also a particularly Toronto-specific irony to the latest controversy.
Years before the current trade tensions, Trump’s name once appeared prominently across the skyline atop the former Trump International Hotel and Tower Toronto. Following a change in ownership, the Trump branding was removed from the building in 2017, and the property eventually became The St. Regis Toronto.
Nearly a decade later, Toronto has once again found itself involved in a battle over where the Trump name does — and doesn’t — belong.
Whether Northern Ontario’s Trump Lake actually receives a new name is another question entirely. For now, Obama Lake remains an internet suggestion rather than an official destination.
But if Canadians were looking for a way to turn an international naming controversy into a distinctly Canadian joke, they certainly found one.
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