Which McDonald's menu item became the first product to use the McRib name?

The McRib sandwich was the first McDonald's product to use the McRib name.

McDonald's introduced the McRib in 1981 as a boneless pork sandwich shaped to resemble a rack of ribs. It used barbecue sauce, onions, and pickles, and its distinctive name made the product easy to separate from the chain's beef-based core menu.

The McRib's branding became closely tied to limited availability. Rather than remaining permanently on the menu everywhere, it has appeared periodically in different markets, encouraging customers to treat each return as an event. That scarcity became part of the product's identity.

The McRib is sometimes mistaken for a conventional pork rib sandwich, but its defining feature is the molded boneless pork patty. Its name also illustrates McDonald's strategy of creating branded menu products whose names could support advertising, anticipation, and recurring promotional campaigns.