Fish fingers sounds funny to me as an American, but actually it's more consistent. Chicken fingers in the US are the same product but with chicken instead of fish.
As an aside, I grew up with “chicken fingers” everywhere, on restaurant menus, etc. but now I can’t think of the last time I didn’t see them called “chicken tenders” outside of one regional fast food chain where I am now. I live in a different region now so I wonder if that’s a regional thing or just an overall trend
Indeed, I had never heard of a chicken tender until I started reading r/WSB; they've always been chicken fingers or buffalo wings.
Buffalo wings are something completely different though? Those are the thigh/drumstick of the chicken (which is commonly served with a spicy sauce), whereas chicken fingers/tenders are the tenderloin.
Some restaurants serve "boneless wings" which are typically fingies with buffalo sauce.
Northeast? I see "chicken tenders" on a lot of menus. I can see the difference being that "chicken fingers" having a childish connotation. And it goes without saying, "boneless buffalo wings" is a complete fabrication of reality.
I wonder if Alton Brown has more sway than I thought. He's done a whole series of rants over the years on his show about how chicken don't have fingers. Then, in his last live stage show, he told a hilarious story about how he made chicken feet for his daughter when she insisted that chicken do have fingers.
I believe the chicken tender is a specific cut/part of the breast. I would guess it’s being used inaccurately for marketing/trendiness purposes, but originally it was probably not just a regional variation of “chicken finger”. See related: Chilean Sea Bass as a renaming of the less glamorous “toothfish”.
“Chicken strips” is quite common too in the United States.