Following Donald Trump’s recent map revisions, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has proposed a name change for the English Channel.
Following US President Donald Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk suggested renaming the English Channel “the George Washington Channel” in honor of the first US president.
In a Saturday X post, Musk proposed a new name for the body of water separating England and France, accompanying the suggestion with a satellite image of the channel overlaid with “The George Washington Channel.”
While possibly facetious, Musk’s suggestion comes after Trump – a political ally of Musk’s – ordered the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and the restoration of Mount McKinley as the name for Denali. The US Interior Department confirmed these changes on Friday.
Trump has also repeatedly expressed his intention to acquire Greenland, a move that would substantially increase US Arctic coastline. He stated on Saturday, following a tense phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier this week, “I think we’re going to have it.”
Furthermore, Trump has frequently suggested that Canada should become a US state in recent months.
Historically known to the Romans as ‘Mare Britannicum’, or the ‘Sea of the Britons’, the English Channel has been commonly called the English Channel since the Middle Ages. In France, it is known as ‘La Manche’, or ‘The Sleeve’, due to its shape.