Claim:
Ronald McDonald goes by the name of Donald McDonald in McDonald’s franchises across Japan.
McDonald’s most famous mascot goes by a different name in Japan: Donald McDonald.
The eponymous red-headed clown, who is known worldwide (mostly) as Ronald McDonald, is written as “Donarudo Makudonarudo” in Japanese.
We reached out to McDonald’s, and a spokesperson said, “The name is one of the localizations that date to the founding of McDonald’s in Japan in 1971.”
According to Business Insider, a local businessman who helped open the first McDonald’s in the country decided it would be easier to pronounce this name in Japanese.
The McDonald’s-backed charity in Japan is also known as the Donald McDonald House.
Given that this information was verified by McDonald’s, we rate this claim as “True.”