[2] The parish of Bolsøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee.

[4] The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Bolsøya (Old Norse: Bylingsøy) since the first Bolsøy Church was built there.

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

[7] The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Bolsøy was made up of 35 representatives that were elected to four year terms.