Våler, Østfold

Våler kommune
Municipality
Våler church
Coat of arms Østfold within Norway
Våler within Østfold
Coordinates: 59°28′21″N 10°55′1″E / 59.47250°N 10.91694°ECoordinates: 59°28′21″N 10°55′1″E / 59.47250°N 10.91694°E
Country	Norway
County	Østfold
Administrative centre	Kirkebygden
Government
• Mayor (2007)	Kjerstin Wøyen Funderud (Sp)
Area
• Total	257 km^2 (99 sq mi)
• Land	239 km^2 (92 sq mi)
Area rank	298 in Norway
Population (2004)
• Total	4,003
• Rank	229 in Norway
• Density	17/km^2 (40/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-6.9 %
Demonym(s)	Vålersokning[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0137
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.valer-of.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Våler is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is Kirkebygden. The parish of Vaaler was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Válir. This is the plural form of váll which means "a clearing in the woods". Prior to 1921, the name was written "Vaaler".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 20 June 1986. The arms are based on the arms of the local Bolt family, who held several high functions in the 13th and 14th centuries. The arms are already seen in the seal of Agmund Berdorsson Bolt from 1400. The arms show a blue background divided in half vertically. On the left is half of a silver fleur-de-lis and on the right there are two yellow chevrons.^[2][3]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Våler by country of origin in 2015^[4]

Ancestry	Number
Poland	211
Lithuania	61
Sweden	38
Bosnia-Herzegovina	37
Germany	33

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
2. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-12-15.
3. "Kommunevåpenet". Våler kommune. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved 2008-12-15. (Norwegian)
4. "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by immigration category, country background and percentages of the population". ssb.no. Retrieved 29 June 2015.

External links

• Media related to Våler at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of Våler at Wiktionary
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway