9 hours Ago By [email protected] (Carla Vaisman)
Picture this: you walk into McDonald's, craving their iconic double-decker burger. But instead of ordering a Big Mac, you're faced with two less-than-appetizing names: the Aristocrat or the Blue Ribbon Burger. Sounds more like a snooty butler or a county fair prize, right? Luckily for us, those names were nixed before they ever made it onto the menu boards.
Back in the late 1960s, McDonald's was expanding rapidly, and they needed a killer name for their latest innovation. The debate raged on until a 21-year-old secretary, Esther Glickstein Rose, stepped in and casually suggested the now-legendary "Big Mac." While the burger's name was up for debate, McDonald's was already hard at work perfecting what would become one of its most beloved menu items.
From its (a secret worth unlocking) to its stacked layers, the Big Mac was destined to become the go-to choice for fans of towering burgers. Whether you're opting for the or just requesting extra cheese and sauce, it's hard to imagine this classic being called anything else. So, what's in a name? Marketing power.
Big Mac's name is a legacy but was almost a miss It's difficult to think of McDonald's before their signature burger, but there was a time when that was true, which means that the Big Mac, not yet named, had to be introduced to the public, and for that, it needed a catchy name that would make people flock to try it. When the Big Mac was first introduced in 1967, McDonald's had no idea it was about to create fast food royalty — or maybe it did, given one of their name choices, the "Aristocrat." The burger itself was a game changer and unlike any on the fast food scene: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun.
But naming it? That was almost a disaster. McDonald's executives originally toyed with "Aristocrat," thinking it sounded upscale, and "Blue Ribbon Burger," which felt like an award-winner at a fair. But let's be honest, would a burger named the Aristocrat have survived a request for "extra aristocrat sauce"? Probably not.
Enter Esther Glickstein Rose, a young secretary in McDonald's advertising department. While brainstorming in 1967, she threw out "Big Mac" as a suggestion. It wasn't immediately embraced (some thought it was too simple), but when McDonald's rolled out the burger nationwide in 1968, the name stuck.
It perfectly captured the towering, larger-than-life quality of this culinary creation. Now, with the Big Mac firmly entrenched as a fast food icon, it's hard to imagine the burger being anything but bold, delicious, and proudly named. So, whether you know the or enjoy it exactly as it is with a side of fries, know that the joy of ordering the classic burger was almost muddled by a terrible name, narrowly escaped by the genius of a young secretary.
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