The original Virginia Company was split into two council factions by James I in 1606 - The First Colony of London (Chesapeake region) and The Second Colony of Plymouth (what we would now consider New England). John Smith is said to have first named the area New England in a work he published in 1614 A Description of New England after he was hired by the Plymouth Company to explore that upper region. Six years later, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the leader of the Plymouth Company officially reorganized the colonial seat of governance for Plymouth as the Council for New England.

Source: "America" George Brown Tindall, 2nd Ed. p. 57-58