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Both the flat ones and the long ones have been around for over 200 years, it would honestly be weirder if regional differences in the names had never developed. After all, why would someone in York, UK and someone in Boston, USA in the 1820s know or care what the other called their fried slices of potato? "Chips" is a pretty reasonable name for both of them, so maybe the flat ones got popular in America first but the long ones got popular in Britan first, so then each had to find another name for the other sort. I'm guessing here, but I don't think it's in any way strange that it happened, however it did happen.
British English using "fries" for thinner chips (chips in the British sense) actually is because of American influence, though. In the same way that Americans call their long fried potato "French fries" because they are fried in the French way, Brits call those thinner ones "fries" because they're fried the American way. You wouldn't usually say "American fries" here because "fries" by itself alreadyy means that, but if you did people would immediately understand that you mean the thinner sort that you get at McDonald's, not the thicker sort you get at a fish & chip shop.