[2] It is named for its single plumage variety, which is a pale buff or apricot-fawn in color.

[2] The modern breed is the result of work done in the 1930s and 1940s by a Missouri breeder named Oscar Grow.

[4] It was added to the British Poultry Standards of the United Kingdom in 1982; there it has become a much heavier bird, and is classed by the Poultry Club of Great Britain as a heavy breed.

[10][11] The American Buff is characterized by its pale yellow-buff plumage, sometimes described as apricot-fawn; the abdomen is white or nearly so.

[10] It differs from other buff-colored geese such as the Brecon Buff of the United Kingdom and the Celler Gans [de] of Germany in its vivid orange beak, shanks and feet.