The parish is named after the old farm Tanum (Norse Túnheimr), since the first church was built there.

This is a demographic table based on Tanum Municipality's electoral districts in the 2022 Swedish general election sourced from SVT's election platform, in turn taken from SCB official statistics.

The rock carvings at Tanum have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tanum Municipality has made its rock carving the subject of its coat of arms.

Tanum is one of the first municipalities to require urine separation toilets to help combat the looming global shortage of phosphorus.