[2] The town was originally named just Seyla, but after the smallholding Litla-Seyla was developed, likely in the 17th century, it came to be called Stóra-Seyla.

The town has an extensive amount of land in Langholt, between Húseyjarkvísl to the east and Sæmundará to the west.

[3] Seyla was part of the dowry that the bishop Gottskálk Nikulásson paid for his daughter Kristín when she married lawyer Þorvarður Erlendsson in 1508.

[4] Þorbergur Hrólfsson (1573 to September 8, 1656) likely acquired the estate early in the 17th century and his relatives lived there long after, albeit not continuously.

[7][8] In the Middle Ages, there was a church in Seyla, mentioned in the Sturlunga Saga, where in 1255 Oddur Þórarinsson's corpse was reportedly moved after he was slain in Geldingaholt.