What was McDonald's name before the company became known by its current name?

Before becoming known simply as McDonald's, the original restaurant operated as McDonald's Bar-B-Q.

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. It was a drive-in barbecue restaurant with a broad menu and carhop service. The brothers later closed it, redesigned the operation around a limited menu and self-service, and reopened it as a hamburger restaurant.

The shortened McDonald's identity belongs to the later hamburger-focused business. The early barbecue name is therefore an important branding detail, but it should not be confused with Speedee Service System, which described the streamlined operating model introduced after the 1948 redesign.