Following the White House reposting of President Donald Trump's "New America" image showing a renamed New Mexico, the complicated legal and financial implications make the move unlikely.
The social media post by Trump on Sept. 6 was just the latest in the administration's rebranding efforts on the national scale after renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," Lake Ontario to "Lake America" and adding his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
The president's critics have said that the renaming tactic is used by Trump as a distraction from the nation's actual problems.
Trump's overall approval rating is at 36%, according to NBC polling, with voters disapproving of his job performance on everything
from tariffs, gas prices, the Iran war and inflation.
In a social media post on Sept. 6, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico’s name is not up for debate.
“New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed. You know what is up for debate? Who’s showing up for working families. While the President tries to distract Americans from his disastrous war in Iran, gas prices keep soaring. Americans are also spending more at the grocery store, losing access to health care and wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford a home,” wrote Lujan Grisham.
The name of New Mexico dates back to the 1500s when the region was named Nuevo México by Spanish settlers.
Can Trump change the name of New Mexico?
The federal government cannot change the name of a state because it lacks the constitutional authority to do so. Neither the president nor U.S. Congress has the legal power to rename an existing state.
For a state to change its name, the process must happen entirely at the state level, typically requiring a state constitutional amendment and voter approval.
What is the process to rename New Mexico?
The U.S. Constitution leaves the internal governance and naming of states up to the states themselves, essentially leaving the federal government's hands tied. If a name change were to occur, it would involve the following steps:
- State Constitutional Amendment: A state's name is legally codified within its own state constitution. For example, Article I of the New Mexico Constitution explicitly states, "The name of this state is New Mexico." Altering this requires a formal state amendment.
- Legislative and voter approval: To pass a state constitutional amendment, a state legislature must approve a ballot measure, which is then put before the citizens of that state in a general election for a majority vote.
- Federal recognition: Once a state legally changes its name under its own laws, the federal government simply updates its official registries, maps, and agencies to recognize the state's new sovereign decision. Congress does not vote to "approve" the name but rather acknowledges the state's updated status.
How much would it cost to change New Mexico's name?
Changing the name of an entire state is an incredibly rare event, but the financial cost would scale into millions of dollars, with the burden being shared across taxpayers, private businesses and individual citizens.
The only modern precedent in the U.S. occurred in 2020, when voters approved shortening the official name of Rhode Island, previously "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Rhode Island budgeted $2.5 million for its name change. For a larger state with a more globally recognized name, the costs would be substantially higher.
Does President Trump have the power to rename anything?
The Office of the President can issue executive orders directing the Secretary of the Interior to update the federal Geographic Names Information System.
This mechanism was used by the Trump administration to rebrand federal map references of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and Lake Ontario to "Lake America" for official U.S. government use. However, this administrative authority over federal map databases does not extend to the legal identity of sovereign U.S. states.
No other countries have to recognize the geographic name changes enacted by Trump. Presidential authority regarding place names ends strictly at the United States border.
Kristian Jaime is the Top Story Reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: What does Trump want to rename New Mexico? How about 'New America'
