Comment Re:OSM FTW (Score 1) 222
Actually, OSM has added the "Lake America" alternative name as a US-specific official name by adding official_name:en-US=Lake America to the lake object. See changeset 188340009.
In OSM's tagging scheme, this is the correct way to do it: the US, and only the US, now officially refers to the lake as "Lake America", hence the use of a localised value for official_name=* However, the value of name=* is what is commonly rendered (depends on your renderer, but I'm yet to encounter one that cares about official_name=*), and this value remains "Lake Ontario". The value of name=* should generally be the common default name, and since everyone except the US government is unlikely to recognise the name change, leaving name=Lake Ontario well alone is also the correct way to do it, despite the current administration's contrary opinion. This means that you'll almost certainly continue to see "Lake Ontario" in OSM.
OSM has some comprehensive documentation on how differing names should be tagged, and it appears that the OSM community has followed this to the letter in dealing with this situation.