The name of New Jersey is often shorted to just “Jersey.” But there is an original “Jersey” – and that is the Channel Islands Jersey across the Atlantic Ocean.

“We’re British. But we’re not part of the United Kingdom, and that owes to the Battle of Hastings in 1066,” says Phillip Ozouf, minister of external relations for Jersey.

Ozouf is visiting the United States in an effort to “strengthen the historic ties between Jersey and New Jersey."

“Our history is intermingled in all sorts of events,” Ozouf says.

New Jersey was named by James Duke of York, brother of King Charles II, to honor Sir George Carteret to whom he was granting rule over half the colony. Carteret had been the governor of the island of Jersey.

A few hundred years later, and now New Jersey’s population is much larger. The Garden State has nine million people to Jersey’s population of 107,000 – about the size of Woodbridge.

“We may be the original. But we can work together,” Ozouf says.

News 12’s Brian Donohue met with Ozouf and brought him a New Jersey gift to welcome him to the state – a package of Taylor Ham pork roll.

“Can I buy Taylor pork roll in Jersey?” Ozouf asked. “Because I’ve never seen it.

Perhaps there can be a new trade deal?

The island of Jersey is a hub for financial industry. Ozouf will be meeting with officials in New Jersey and Washington D.C. to boost the financial cooperation between the two Jersies, and also start a student exchange program with its sister city of Trenton.