What name did McDonald's use for its 1960 corporate rebranding from McDonald's System?

McDonald's changed its corporate name from McDonald's System to McDonald's Corporation in 1960.

The change occurred during the period when Ray Kroc was expanding the business from a small California restaurant operation into a large franchise organization. A formal corporate name helped distinguish the growing company from individual franchise restaurants and reflected its broader national structure.

That same year was important for visual branding because McDonald's introduced the Golden Arches as a corporate symbol. The arches had already been used on restaurant buildings, but the corporate identity increasingly treated them as a recognizable trademark. The business name and visual mark therefore developed together as the chain expanded.

McDonald's Corporation should not be confused with the earlier McDonald's System name or with the McDonald brothers' original restaurant business. The corporate title was later changed again: in 2019, the company adopted McDonald's Corporation as its official name after having used McDonald's Corporation for decades, while its public brand remained McDonald's.