The lesser white-fronted goose was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas erythropus.

[3][4] The lesser white-fronted goose is now one of 11 species placed in the genus Anser that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.

[5] The specific epithet comes from anser, the Latin for "goose", and erythropus, "red-footed", derived from the old Greek eruthros "red" and pous "foot".

[8] Individual birds formerly appeared regularly at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, England, where they inspired Sir Peter Scott to set up The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust—modern records, however, are far less frequent, a consequence of the species' decline on its European breeding grounds.

An attractive species, it is also widely kept in wildfowl collections and, as a result, escapes do occur; individuals seen in summer, or in the company of other feral geese, are likely to be of captive origin.