[6] The municipality is named after the local Folda fjord (Old Norse: Fold).

The name is derived from the word fold which probably means "broad" or "wide" referring to the width of the fjord.

At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Folden prestegjeld and the Søndre Salten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

[8] The municipality was quite large, stretching from the mountainous border with Sweden to the open ocean in the west.

The highest point in the municipality was the 1,663.6-metre (5,458 ft) tall mountain Skagmatoppen, on the border with Sweden.