A name change involving one of the Great Lakes is getting some pushback and a little humor from a neighboring city.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order August 27 directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The order directs the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to take steps to update federal records and references to the lake.
The move prompted a tongue-in-cheek response from Cleveland City Council.
Council members approved a resolution renaming a portion of Lake Erie the “Gulf of Cleveland.” The measure was sponsored by Ward 4 Council Member Kris Harsh and was written as a parody of recent government efforts to rename geographic landmarks.
The resolution does not change the official name of Lake Erie. Instead, it applies the humorous designation to a portion of the lake along Cleveland’s shoreline.
The move has also renewed discussion about the history behind the name Lake Erie.
Dr. Jeff Bloodworth, a professor of history at Gannon University in Erie, says the name has Indigenous roots. Bloodworth specializes in American political history and teaches history at Gannon.
Bloodworth says “Exploders took the Iroquois name for what we call Lake Erie which meant longtail. So, in the Iroquois you know language they name the Lake based upon its geographic shape a longtail. What the French explores did is they just took that Iroquois name, and they shortened it to Erie.”
Dr. Bloodworth says politicians should focus on the war in Iran, the price of oil and the price of groceries.