McDonald’s changed its name from McDonald’s Bar-B-Q to McDonald’s in 1948.
That year marked a major reset for Richard and Maurice McDonald’s San Bernardino business. After closing temporarily, the brothers reopened with a much smaller menu and a self-service system focused on speed and consistency. The simplified name matched the restaurant’s new identity better than the original barbecue-oriented title.
The change is part of a wider transformation that shaped McDonald’s branding. The business moved away from carhop service and a broad barbecue menu toward hamburgers, fries, milkshakes, and standardized counter service. The famous arches and later national advertising came after this operational change, but the 1948 renaming helped establish the core brand name used today.