Stranda is a municipality in M�re og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnm�re region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Stranda.
Stranda consists of three smaller villages and one larger central village. The smaller villages are Hellesylt, Geiranger, and Liabygda. The central town, bearing the name of the municipality, has about 2,500 inhabitants. There is also the small village of Helsem which isa located just south of the village of Stranda. Stranda is also known for tourist attractions like the Geirangerfjorden and Sunnylvsfjorden.
Stranden was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1892, the district of Stordal was separated from Stranden to form a new municipality of its own. This left Stranda with 1,459 residents. The spelling was changed to Stranda in 1918. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Sunnylven(population: 1,221) was merged into Stranda.
Name
The Old Norse form of the name was Str?nd. The name is identical with the word str?nd f which means "beach" or "strand". Before 1918, the name was written Stranden.
Coat-of-arms
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 2 May 1986 and were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The arms show a figure which symbolizes the fjords and mountains hovering over the beach.
Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes, with four churches, within the municipality of Stranda. It is part of the Diocese of M�re and the Rural Deanery (Prosti) of Austre Sunnm�re
