What name is commonly given to the yellow arches in McDonald’s logo history?

The yellow arches in McDonald’s logo history are commonly called the Golden Arches.

The arches originated as architectural features of McDonald’s restaurants in the 1950s. Architect Stanley Clark Meston designed the prominent curved forms for the company’s restaurant buildings, and the shapes later became a powerful visual symbol independent of the architecture.

In 1962, Jim Schindler combined the two arches into the stylized letter M used in McDonald’s branding. The resulting emblem became one of the world’s most recognizable corporate symbols and eventually appeared widely on signs, packaging, advertising, and digital media.

The term refers to the arches themselves, not to the company’s legal name or a menu product. Another common confusion is to treat the Golden Arches as a design created only for the 1962 logo; their history began with restaurant architecture before the combined emblem was formalized.