New Mexico has carried its name for nearly 500 years, longer than the United States has existed as a country.
On Monday, the president took to Truth Social with a demand that the state rename itself, arguing that “New Mexico” creates confusion about whether the territory belongs to the United States or to its southern neighbor. “New Mexico should change its name to the Great State of New Mexico,” Trump wrote in the post, suggesting the addition of “Great” would do the job of making the state’s American identity unmistakably clear.
The post went up shortly before he left for a campaign rally in Kansas.
President Trump-“New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America! The name would add great value and prestige to the State! Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting…” https://t.co/fpB7WQAx8S
— NJConservative (@NJPoster) October 19, 2026
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Back in September, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham dismissed Trump’s proposal on X, writing: “New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed.”
New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed.
While the President tries to distract Americans from his disastrous war in Iran, the price of gas —and everything else — keeps rising.
Under Democratic leadership here in New Mexico, we’re providing families with free childcare and college, protecting access to health care and investing in housing. While the White House wastes time coloring on maps, Nuevo México is busy doing the work. 🌶️
Photo credit: https://t.co/Yo9AbAjh4L
— Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) September 6, 2026
Gregg Hull, the Republican candidate seeking to succeed Grisham, also rejected the idea after Trump first floated it on September 6. In a statement reported by the Albuquerque Journal the following day, Hull said: “New Mexico does not need a new name.” He added that the state’s identity was rooted in the history of Native nations, Spanish explorers and generations of families, declaring: “That identity is not up for negotiation.”
Trump has not endorsed Hull, which in the current political climate says something.
Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez also opposed the idea. On September 6, shortly after Trump posted his proposal, Vasquez said in a statement: “You don’t get to erase New Mexico. Not our name. Not our history. Not our culture.”
Before anyone takes the threat too seriously, there is the small matter of what Trump can actually do here.
He has genuine authority over how the federal government labels geographic features, which is precisely how the Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America through executive order at the start of his second term, and how Lake Ontario quietly became Lake America during his trade standoff with Canada.
He has also been floating the idea of renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” since the Iran conflict began, though that one has its own complications. A state, however, is a constitutional matter entirely outside his reach. New Mexico’s name is embedded in its own founding document, in a sentence that reads: “The name of this state is New Mexico.” Changing it requires the state legislature, a constitutional amendment, and a statewide vote.
New Mexico’s name dates to 16th century Spanish explorers who applied it to the region north of the Rio Grande. It predates American statehood by roughly 350 years. The state became the 47th to join the union in 1912, keeping the name it had been known by for centuries. The country of Mexico, meanwhile, did not adopt its current official name until 1824, meaning the American state has technically been “New Mexico” longer than Mexico has been “Mexico.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
