Trump says he wanted to rename Atlantic Ocean but Google's Sundar Pichai said no

US President Donald Trump has claimed Google CEO Sundar Pichai rejected his idea of renaming the Atlantic Ocean, citing its international nature. Trump said he planned to rename the Atlantic Ocean after himself or America.

US President Donald Trump has said that Google CEO Sundar Pichai turned down his idea of renaming the Atlantic Ocean after him or America, saying the company had told him that unlike other water bodies that had been renamed under the incumbent administration, oceans were an entirely different matter.

Speaking at a campaign rally in the state of South Carolina on Wednesday, October 21, Trump recounted a conversation he had with Pichai about renaming one of the world's two largest water bodies after himself or the US.

"I'm not gonna put either Trump or America on any other ocean, but these two," Trump said, referring to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The two-time President then claimed he had approached Google about the idea, praising Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin as "totally brilliant guys".

"And I spoke to a brilliant guy, Sundar, he heads all of Google, he's a brilliant guy," Trump said.

Recounting the conversation, Trump said he had asked Pichai whether Google could handle renaming the Atlantic Ocean, only to be met with a negative response.

"No, no, no, this time I'm not doing it," Trump recalled Pichai telling him.

According to Trump, Pichai had explained that oceans were different from other geographical features because they extended across several countries.

"He said, he said, oceans are different, sir. You know, they cover, they cover a lot of countries," Trump said, adding that Google had asked him not to pursue the idea.

Trump then appeared to abandon the proposal, asking the audience, "Should I pass it? I think let's keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right?"

There was no immediate independent confirmation of Trump's account from Google or Pichai.

TRUMP'S OCEAN-RENAMING IDEA

Though Trump praised Pichai, he had recently spoken unfavourably about him.

On September 29, after a White House meeting with tech executives to discuss AI safety, Trump called the Google CEO a "monster", apparently referring to his enormous influence in the technology industry, while joking that few people knew him.

The 80-year-old Donald Trump had first floated the possibility of renaming either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean earlier this month, suggesting names such as "Trump Ocean" or Ocean of the Americas", according to an October 10 report by The Washington Post.

The US President had then said that the country needed an ocean named after it and suggested he wanted to make the change before leaving office. He also joked about naming an ocean after himself.

The proposal follows Trump's earlier efforts to rename geographical features. In 2025, he moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, a decision that triggered diplomatic tensions with Mexico and a dispute with the Associated Press over the terminology used in its coverage.

In August 2026, Trump also renamed Lake Ontario, which lies between the United States and Canada, as Lake America amid tensions with Canadian leaders over trade and tariffs.

Private mapping companies, including Google Maps, have generally adopted the new names for US users following Trump's moves, although the changes have not necessarily been recognised internationally.

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(Written by Shounak Sanyal)