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The iconic burger was created by franchisee Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967.
According to Fox News, Delligatti believed that McDonald's should sell a larger burger "geared towards adults" in order to compete with another local fast-food chain, Eat'n Park, which sold a "Big Boy" sandwich.
His burger debuted on April 22, 1967, and featured a "double burger" with a bun in the middle, a slice of cheese, lettuce, onions, and a secret "special sauce."
When the company decided to roll the burger out across the US in 1968, a 21-year-old secretary came up with its name.
There was a lot of deliberation over the name. Two other options were the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger, but both were nixed.
However, Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old secretary for the company's advertising department in 1967, had the winning name — "Big Mac."
According to the AP, executives and other employees at the time laughed at the name. However, it stuck and went on to become "one of the best-known product names of all time."
Esther Glickstein Rose wrote to the chain many times to try and get them to give her credit for the name.
No one believed she had actually come up with the name — not even her own children.
However, Esther Glickstein Rose was finally recognized in 1985 for coining the name. She never asked for nor received any payment for naming the burger, but did receive a plaque engraved with a Big Mac and a thank-you note.
"I felt that because of her perseverance all these years, the fact that it really is for her kids and the fact that, yes, indeed, she did play a role in naming the sandwich, we should recognize her," said Jeff Olian, a McDonald's lawyer at the time.
The first national rollout of the "Big Mac" sold for 45 cents.
It was advertised as a "meal disguised as a sandwich," which emphasized the new menu item's larger-than-average size.
Recently, McDonald's released two new iterations of its famous burger — the Double Big Mac, which has four patties instead of two, and the Little Mac, which comes with one patty and no third bun layer.
