Vanylven

Vanylven kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Møre og Romsdal within Norway
Vanylven within Møre og Romsdal
Coordinates: 62°03′38″N 05°41′51″E / 62.06056°N 5.69750°ECoordinates: 62°03′38″N 05°41′51″E / 62.06056°N 5.69750°E
Country	Norway
County	Møre og Romsdal
District	Sunnmøre
Administrative centre	Fiskåbygd
Government
• Mayor (2003)	Jan Helgøy (KrF)
Area
• Total	385.23 km^2 (148.74 sq mi)
• Land	365.41 km^2 (141.09 sq mi)
• Water	19.82 km^2 (7.65 sq mi)
Area rank	242 in Norway
Population (2013)
• Total	3,336
• Rank	255 in Norway
• Density	9.1/km^2 (24/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-12.7 %
Demonym(s)	Vanylving[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1511
Official language form	Nynorsk
Website	www.vanylven.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Vanylven is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Fiskåbygd. Other villages in the municipality include Sandnes, Åheim, Åram, Rovdane, Eidså, Slagnes, and Myklebost.

General information

Map of the municipality

View of Saint Jetmund Church

Vanelven was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The spelling was later changed to Vanylven. On 1 July 1918, the area around the Syvdsfjorden was separated to become the new Syvde municipality. This left Vanylven with 1,848 residents. Then on 1 January 1964, Syvde municipality and the Rovdestranda area of Rovde municipality were both merged into Vanylven Municipality. This gave Vanylven a new population of 3,897. On 1 January 2002, the mainland Åram area north of Fiskåbygd (population: 380) was transferred from Sande Municipality to Vanylven Municipality.^[2][3]

Name

The municipality is named after Vanylvsfjorden (Old Norse: Vaniflir). The meaning of the first element is unknown, but the last element (-iflir) is also found in the names Sunnylven and Sykkylven and it probably means "fjord".^[4]

Before 1889, the name was written "Vanelven", from 1889-1917 it was spelled "Vannelven", and since 1918 it has been spelled "Vanylven".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted in 1987. The arms are meant to show how the Vanylvsfjorden meets the sea. The green represents that land and the silver represents the fjord, which is full of herring, an important industry to the municipality.^[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Vanylven. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

Churches in Vanylven

Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Vanylven	Vanylven Church	Slagnes	1863
Syvde	Syvde Church	Myklebost	1837
Rovde	Rovde Church	Rovdane	1872
Åram	Åram Church	Åram	1927
Åheim	Saint Jetmund Church	Åheim	1130

Geography

Vanylven borders the municipalities of Sande and Herøy in the north (across the Rovdefjorden). Volda Municipality lies to the east; and the municipalities of Eid, Vågsøy and Selje (in Sogn og Fjordane county) are located to the south.

Vanylven is located on the mainland of Norway and it is surrounded by several fjords. The Vanylvsfjorden lies to the west and the Rovdefjorden to the north. The Syvdsfjorden cuts into the municipality from the north and it empties into the Rovdefjorden. The Syltefjorden branches off the main Vanylvsfjorden, just past the village of Fiskåbygd.

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
2. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
3. Statistisk sentralbyrå (2001). "1511 Vanylven. Population 1 January and population changes during the year. 1951-" (in Norwegian).
4. Rygh, Oluf (1908). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (in Norwegian) (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 1.
5. "Om Vanylven" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-10-18.

External links

• http://www.vanylven.kommune.no (Norwegian)