Google Calendar Changes Observance Listings Following Name Update in Maps App
Google has updated its Calendar app to require users to manually add cultural observances like Black History Month and Pride Month. This change follows the recent renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps.
Google Maps has updated the name 'Gulf of Mexico' to 'Gulf of America' following an official change in the U.S. Geographic Names System.
Simultaneously, the start of Black History Month and Pride Month will no longer be recognized by Google Calendar. Users will now need to manually add commemorative months and public holidays themselves, according to the tech company.
Previously, Google had included both months and various public holidays in its Calendar app, but this practice is set to change. In a statement to USA TODAY, a Google spokesperson explained, “For over a decade we've worked with timeanddate.com to show public holidays and national observances in Google Calendar." They continued, "Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world.”
The spokesperson also noted, “We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing -- and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn't scalable or sustainable.” Starting mid-2024, Google will revert to displaying only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to add other significant moments.
Timeanddate.com, based in Stavanger, Norway, houses over 7,600 holidays in its database with about 40 employees working there.
With these changes, Google users will have to manually include events like Teachers Day and other cultural celebrations in their calendars. Despite the omission of Black History Month and Lunar New Year, Google announced that it "actively celebrate[s] and promote[s] cultural moments as a company in our products.”
The spokesperson added that public holidays and national observances are the two categories shown on Google Calendar, and users can customize settings within the app to display or hide them as preferred.
This update in Google's Calendar app follows the recent renaming of the Gulf of Mexico in its Maps application. This decision stemmed from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on January 20, which aimed to officially rename the Gulf to emphasize its historical significance to the nation.
Trump stated in a White House news release, “I took this action in part because, as stated in that Order, '(t)he area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America.'”
In its statement on X, Google mentioned its "longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources." The company adheres to updates from the U.S. Geological Survey, including previously changing the name of Denali back to 'Mount McKinley.'
According to Google's post on X, the geographical name changes will differ between countries, with Maps users seeing their official local names while others see both names globally.
