McDonald’s added the word “McDonald’s” beneath its Golden Arches logo in 1968. This change created a more explicit combination of symbol and company name, making the branding easier to understand in places where customers might not yet recognize the arches alone.
The Golden Arches had already become a distinctive logo in 1962. Initially, the symbol could stand by itself because it echoed the architecture of McDonald’s restaurants. By 1968, the company was operating on a much larger scale, so pairing the wordmark with the symbol strengthened recognition across signs, packaging, and advertising.
The date is sometimes confused with 1962, the year associated with the modern arches logo itself. Another commonly remembered date is 1955, when Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines restaurant that became an important corporate milestone, but that was not the year the wordmark was added.
This evolution shows how McDonald’s branding moved from a location-based architectural cue toward a standardized corporate identity that could travel across many formats and markets.