The municipality of Erfjord was created on 1 January 1914, when the municipality of Jelsa was split in two: the western part remained as Jelsa, and the eastern part became Erfjord. Initially, Erfjord had 617 inhabitants. On 1 January 1965, a major municipal consolidation took place due to the recommendations of the Schei Committee. Erfjord municipality ceased to exist and it was merged with the municipalities of Sand and Suldal as well as part of the municipalities of Jelsa and Imsland to form the new (much larger) municipality of Suldal. At the time of its dissolution, Erfjord had 610 residents.[3]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Erfjord farm (Old Norse: Elrifjǫrðr or Æðrafjǫrðr) since the first Erfjord Church was built there. The meaning of the first element of the name is uncertain, but there are two strong possibilities. The first possibility is that it comes from the word elri which means "alder", a type of common tree in the area (the more modern local name is ør which sounds a lot like Er-). The other main possibility is that it comes from the word æðr which means "eider", a local type of waterfowl. The last element is fjǫrðr which means "fjord".[4]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Erfjord was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: