Amerification

In the age of digital technology and widespread social media, new fads and trends quickly come into the spotlight, gaining significant traction and popularity. Yet recently, one cultural trend has slowly crept its way into mainstream media, and it doesn’t require an app, a camera, or influencer endorsement—just a jumbo Sharpie, a map, and a nationalistic belief that everything sounds better with “America” in it. Dubbed Amerification, it is best described as a process in which places and objects are renamed and rebranded to reflect as much patriotic pride as possible.

It began in early 2025, when President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.” In it, he demanded that all federal agencies rename the body of water formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Then, in the midst of a trade war with Canada, President Trump signed another executive order on August 27, 2026. He ordered that Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes of North America, be renamed Lake America. Applications such as Google Maps and Apple Maps changed the name to reflect both changes, but physical maps and globes published before these orders were only changed by patriotic children wielding Sharpies.

Cartographers are one of the most affected groups by this sudden change. Quarterly reports from the New York Stock Exchange state that they seem to be buying erasable ink and whiteout in bulk from Staples across the nation. However, implementing the change is widespread across all industries. Soon, meteorologists will have to report a cold front headed south from Ottawa in the country of America’s 51st State, and journalists will have to write about environmental pollution in Lake America… the Second.

Nationalistic citizens are proposing new names for locations all across the country, whether to their local legislators or on online platforms such as change.org. Joe from Boise, Idaho, suggested renaming the Statue of Liberty the Statue of America as if liberty wasn’t American enough. John from Kansas City, Missouri, suggested renaming the Gateway Arch the American Arch instead. Even Trump is backing the idea on social media of renaming New Mexico to New America.

Nor is the trend limited to places. The trend has influenced the renaming of all kinds of items. In the toys sector, Play-Doh has become America-Doh (only sold in red, white, and blue), and the Etch-a-Sketch has become the Etch-a-America (now comes with a gun-shaped pen!) Basic foods have been rebranded too, like the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza becoming the American Pizza and French Fries becoming American Fries (because if France can take them from Belgium, we can take them too! Surely two wrongs make a right!). Even music isn’t safe, as the French Horn has been replaced by the American Horn. Such an improvement, right?

In the most drastic of cases, conservative parents have even named their children America, a name that is sure to sentence the poor child to the same question at every roll call, doctor’s appointment, and job interview alike: “Like the country?” America Charlie Smith is crying while scrolling on Truth Social somewhere in a Walmart parking lot, and it’s the most patriotic thing happening in the country right now. The trend of Amerification is also expected to expand to other countries outside of America. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney fired back at the Trump administration at a press conference earlier this week, retorting that maybe Canada should rename Niagara Falls to Canada Falls.

So dear reader, keep a close eye on your local library or park. Write down that precious name you have for it in a notebook before it is permanently lost to history. For while it might be your community’s now, in the blink of an eye, it might just become America’s.