McDonald's was the restaurant name adopted after the McDonald brothers dropped “Bar-B-Q” from the business name in 1948.
Maurice and Richard McDonald originally operated a drive-in restaurant called McDonald's Bar-B-Q in San Bernardino, California. In 1948, they temporarily closed the restaurant, reorganized its operation, and reopened it as a limited-service hamburger stand. The shorter name matched the simplified menu and faster service model.
The change came before Ray Kroc expanded McDonald's through franchising. It is sometimes confused with the later corporate history, but the McDonald brothers had already established the McDonald's name before Kroc opened his first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. The name ultimately became one of the world's most recognizable restaurant brands.