Buffalo wings are named for Buffalo, New York, which shares its name with the animal buffalo.
The dish’s name refers to the city, not to buffalo meat. Buffalo wings are chicken wings prepared in a spicy sauce, traditionally based on cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter. The city association comes from the dish’s widely accepted origin story in Buffalo, New York.
The Anchor Bar is commonly credited with popularizing the dish in 1964, when Teressa Bellissimo reportedly deep-fried chicken wings and coated them in sauce. The exact invention story is disputed, and John Young also played an important role in Buffalo’s wing history, but the geographic name is not in doubt.
This is why the answer is easy to confuse: a buffalo is an animal, while a Buffalo wing contains chicken. In everyday American usage, “Buffalo” in this food name functions as a place reference and a style label, not an ingredient.