Country Norway County Finnmark Municipality Nordkapp Local time Thursday 2:24 AM | Region Northern Norway District Vest-Finnmark Elevation 7 m (23 ft) | |
 | ||
Weather -1°C, Wind SW at 23 km/h, 91% Humidity | ||
Kjelvik is a small fishing village in Nordkapp Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the island of Magerøya, a few miles east of the town of Honningsvåg and the village of Nordvågen. It sits near the mouth of the Porsangerfjorden. The village has no permanent residents, although the homes are used as vacation homes in the summer.
Kjelvik was the original name of Nordkapp municipality since Kjelvik was one of the largest settlements in the municipality, larger even than Honningsvåg. However, during World War II, the village was totally destroyed by German forces in 1944, never recovering. As a consequence of this, in 1950 the name of the municipality was changed to Nordkapp to recognize the importance of the nearby North Cape.
Name
The village is first mentioned in 1518 ("Kedelwigh"), but it is probably from older times (Old Norse: Ketilvík). The first element is ketill which means "kettle" and the last element is vík which means "inlet". The meaning of the name is then: "the inlet formed like a kettle".