Name

The municipal name was created in 1849 (and in use until 1854) when the old municipality of Hof was divided. The new name was a combination of two areas that made up the new municipality. The word og, meaning "and", was in between the two names. The name of the municipality was always spelled Aasnes og Vaaler during its existence, but on 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms (long after this municipality was dissolved). This reform changed the spelling in the Norwegian language so that the digraph "aa" was no longer used and instead, the letter å was used. This is why the name is now usually seen written using the modern spelling: Åsnes og Våler, but this was never used during the existence of the municipality.^[4][5]

The first name comes from the old Åsnes farm (Old Norse: Ásnes) since the first Åsnes Church was built there. The first element is áss which means "mountain ridge". The last element is nes which means "headland". The headland that it is referring to is made by the river Glomma near the Åsnes farm which is located beneath a hill.^[6] The second name comes from the old Våler farm (Old Norse: Válir) since the first Våler Church was built there. The first element is the plural form of váll which means "clearing in the woods".^[7]