The small municipality included the coastal area about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) east of the town of Tvedestrand and several islands located just offshore.

[4] The parish of Dybvaag (later spelled "Dypvåg") was established as a civil municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law).

Then later, on 1 January 1887, an uninhabited part of neighboring Søndeled municipality was transferred to Dypvåg.

[5] The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Dybvaag farm (Old Norse: Djúpvágr or Djúpivágr) since the first Dypvåg Church was built there.

[8][9] On 22 January 1932, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Dypvåg.