French fries or "chips" for English readers are a typical Belgian dish. They are called French fries not because of their origin (they are by all accounts a Belgian dish) but because of the way they are "fried"; in the French way (that is to say frying them two times with a small pause in the middle). They can be eaten in accompaniment with meat, fish and vegetables or on their own (see fish and chips).
Potatoes cut and fried in this manner were first served in the United States by Thomas Jefferson at his Monticello estate after his return from his ambassadorship.
There is a rumour that French fries are called such instead of Belgian fries because they got that name during the first World War. American soldiers stationed in France were eating the fries, and dubbed them 'French fries', whereas they actually originated in Belgium.