Columnist Mark Patinkin ponders new names for Rhode Island and it's cities and towns as the Gulf of Mexico gets renamed.

Part of a legal description of a boundary line of Dixie County, for instance, says it goes "southerly down the thread of the main stream of said Suwannee River to the Gulf of Mexico; thence along said Gulf of Mexico, including the waters of said gulf within the jurisdiction of the State of Florida, to the mouth of the Steinhatchee River."

Mapmakers and teachers are re-thinking what to call the gulf of water between Mexico, the United States and Cuba.

The US Department of the Interior (DoI) on Friday said that the Gulf of Mexico is now to be known as the "Gulf of America" following an executive order by US President Donald Trump. On Monday, Trump issued an order saying that the body of water on the south coast of the US and east coast of Mexico would be renamed in honour of "American greatness.

For some crazy reason it’s having a renaissance in all my conversations. I can’t stop trotting it out while on the phone or out in public. "Chilly along the Gulf of Mexico," I’ll chip in as I pass someone in a store.

President Trump's executive order renames the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, cast your vote on which name you prefer.

Among the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the newly named "Gulf of America." "President Trump is bringing common sense to government and renewing the pillars of American civilization," the newly inaugurated president's executive order said.

However, Trump's order only applies to the U.S. government's official position. Though headquartered in the U.S., corporations such as Google and Apple aren't beholden to the president's directive to rename the landmarks, raising questions as to whether they'll update their popular map services to reflect the government's stance.

Usually, renaming a place starts locally. The people in the state or county propose a name change and gather support. The process in each state is different.

Among the blizzard of executive orders issued by Donald Trump on his first day back in the Oval Office was one titled Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness. It unilaterally renamed “the area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America”.

A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map.