The original municipality included the northern part of the Bergen Peninsula, except for the coastal areas along the Salhusfjorden and Sørfjorden.

On 1 July 1938, the far northern tip of the Bergen peninsula around the villages of Tellevik and Hordvik were transferred from Hamre municipality to Åsane.

[5] The new municipality was small, but over the next several decades, there was major population growth due to the growing city of Bergen, located to the southwest, over the mountains.

The name is the plural form of áss which means "rocky ridge" or "hill".

On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Aasane.