The 4.66-square-kilometre (1,150-acre) town has a population (2024) of 8,422 and a population density of 1,807 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,680/sq mi).[2]
History
Map of Namsos in 1884
The village of Namsos was declared to be a ladested in 1845. At that time, it was separated from Vemundvik Municipality of which it was a part prior to that time. The new town, Ladested Namsos had 591 inhabitants and the rest of Vemundvik Municipality was then renamed Namsos herred (or Namsos landdistrikt) and it had 908 residents after the split.[6]
Areas of Namsos herred lying adjacent to the town of Namsos were later annexed by the town on numerous occasions as the town grew. On 1 January 1882, an area with 109 inhabitants was moved to the town. On 1 July 1921 an area with 927 inhabitants was again transferred to Namsos. Then, on 1 July 1957, another area with a population of 6 was transferred to Namsos.[6]
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, there was a large municipal merger. The following neighboring areas were merged to form a new, larger Namsos Municipality with 10,875 residents.[6]
The town is named Namsos, which is also the name of the municipality in which it is located. The town was named after its location at the mouth of the river Namsen. The first element of the name is Nams- which comes from the name of the river Namsen. The river name has an uncertain origin. The first part of the river name may come from the Old Norse word Nauma) which has an unknown meaning, but it may come from the word naust which means "boat". The second part of the river name (-sen) is derived from the word sær which means "sea". The last element of the town's name is óss which means the "mouth of a river".[7][8]
The coat of arms of the town of Namsos was granted on 5 May 1961 and they were in use by the town until 1 January 1964 when a large municipal merger took place. The arms were re-granted to Namsos Municipality on 21 October 1966 a couple years after the town was merged with several other areas to form the new municipality. The arms show a golden moose head on a red background. The moose was chosen as a symbol for the municipality, since Namsos is the capital of the forest-rich Namdalen region, and the moose is the "king of the forest".[8][9]
