[2] He took his examen artium in 1929 and became a conscripted officer in the military in 1930, attaining the rank of major.
[2] During the German attack on Norway in 1940, he participated as an unpaid lieutenant and adjutant in the first battalion of the Rogaland Infantry Regiment No.
[3] In the fishing dispute between the United Kingdom and Norway before the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 1949, his report on names of fishing grounds was presented to the court as evidence.
He served as the archives manager from 1942 at 1978, and was a lecturer in Nordic place name research at the University of Oslo from 1945 onward, a lecturer in Nordic place name research and Nordic languages at the University of Gothenburg from 1955 to 1956, and the Norwegian state adviser on geographical names (Norwegian: statens navnekonsulent) from 1942 to 1980.
[1][5][6] Hovda was a recipient of the Defence Medal 1940–1945 with a rosette for his efforts during the Second World War II.