This story first appeared in NPR's live blog of Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration, where you can find more coverage and context from the day.
President Trump said in his inaugural remarks that he would soon change the name of two natural landmarks: the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and Mount Denali in Alaska back to its former official name, "Mount McKinley."
In 2015, former President Barack Obama formally renamed Mount McKinley — named after 25th president William McKinley— to Mount Denali, a name used by native Alaska people. The mountain is the tallest peak in North America. A White House statement at the time said the designation "recognizes the sacred status of Denali" to Alaska natives going back generations.
Monday, Trump called McKinley "a great president," and pledged to restore his name to the peak.
"President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent," Trump said in his inaugural remarks.
Trump had previously suggested reversing the name change during his first presidential campaign but did not follow through. He made the promise again during a December speech in Phoenix.
In response to those December remarks, Alaska's two Republican senators issued statements opposing the idea.
"You can't improve upon the name that Alaska's Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America's tallest peak, Denali — the Great One," reads a Dec. 23 statement from Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
"For years, I advocated in Congress to restore the rightful name for this majestic mountain to respect Alaska's first people who have lived on these lands for thousands of years. This is an issue that should not be relitigated."
A spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan told Alaska Public Media in a Dec. 23 email, "Senator Sullivan like many Alaskans prefers the name that the very tough, very strong, very patriotic Athabaskan people gave the mountain thousands of years ago — Denali."
What about the "Gulf of America?"
Trump previously suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico in a press conference from Mar-a-Lago earlier this month. The comments came before a larger riff about U.S. expansion, where Trump would not rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
After that press conference, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she introduced a bill to make the change, which would rename the gulf on federal documents and maps.
But other countries would not have to go along with the move: The Associated Press reports that there are instances where countries refer to the same body of water or landmark by different names in their own documentation.
Copyright 2025 NPR