Trump says he will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

Such a bold move would impact the state of Texas, which has about 370 miles of coastline along the Gulf.

Trump announced the name change in the middle of one of his trademark wide-ranging, unstructured news conferences, while complaining about the country of Mexico and the perceived problems he typically attributes to the neighboring country, such as, for example, the drug problem in the United States.

"’The Gulf of America.’ What a beautiful name," said Trump.

But does a president have the power to change names? Yes. In a way.

"He could actually direct federal agencies to use the name Gulf of America," said Jon Taylor, the chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at UTSA.

Taylor added that the name change solves no problems, but it does indicate that Trump could be embracing expanding the borders of the United States—as he has been notably doing in recent days.

"When you are talking about invading Panama, invading Greenland, trying to take over Canada through economic force," said Taylor, it would be easy to see a new and burgeoning "form of manifest destiny."

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth-largest body of water in the world, covering some 600,000 square miles.

Over the course of history, it has been identified by several names, including "Golfo de Mexico," dating back to the mid-16th century during the time that Spain occupied areas of Cuba, Mexico and the United States.

At one time, talk show host and comic, Stephen Colbert suggested the name change after the 2010 BP oil spill. This happened on the Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report."

And the name change has been suggested at least one other time in recent years when Democrat state Rep. Steve Holland proposed a bill that would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

Trump's loyalists have already offered their support of the renaming. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) took to social media to express her support. She said she has instructed her staff to begin to write up legislation to change the name.