Should Long Island Sound Be Renamed Gulf of Connecticut?

Would you like this change to happen?

Imagine setting out in your boat from a Connecticut coastal destination like Norwalk or Old Saybrook and cruising out into the open waters of … the Gulf of Connecticut?

That’s right. Long Island Sound is not immune from the recent craze of randomly changing the long-standing names of large bodies of water.

A recent online petition by a Connecticut resident named William Yoxall calls for changing the name of Long Island Sound to the “Gulf of Connecticut.” The petition had 1,785 signatures as of the beginning of March.

“America has long ignored the greatness of CONNECTICUT! Such as being the pizza capital of the WORLD!!!” Yoxall states in the petition. “Long Island isn’t even that long, I’ve seen way bigger, and Connecticut is just such a beautiful state.”

“We need to restore Connecticut Pride and Connecticut GREATNESS!!!” states Yoxall. “We petition to change the body of water known as the ‘Long Island Sound’ to a more American name, the Gulf of Connecticut.”

As for Connecticut being a more “American” name … well, the Algonquin people might have something to say about that. According to National Geographic, the name “Connecticut” comes from a Native American word, quinatucquet, roughly meaning “beside the long tidal river,” which refers to the Connecticut River.

It certainly isn’t the first proposed name change of a body of water since the recent Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America hullabaloo. Last month, the mayor of Weymouth, Massachusetts, joked about changing the name of Hingham Bay to the Gulf of Weymouth.

All a joke? Maybe. But the proposal to rename Long Island Sound did get the attention of Connecticut’s governor, who posted about it on X and even tagged New York’s governor.