Where did the name Fjordside come from?

The year was 2016 and my (now) husband and I were on a trip to Yosemite with his side of the family. It was my first time at this majestic place. We had the privilege of attending an introduction by the board of directors due to a family connection and were asked if there were any first timers. Me! He asked where I was from, and although living in California, my instinct is always to say Norway. (hey, that is where I’m from). Awestruck, he half jokingly goes: “Well if you’re from Norway you might not be that impressed with this place”. Spoiler, I was obviously very impressed.

The rest of the trip we joked about the Norway comment. We were referring to California as Westside, pointing to the old West Coast/East Coast hip hop feud. But what do we call Norway? I don’t know how this came to be, but I remember it being my husband’s cousin that coined ‘Fjordside”. Brilliant. (I will give credit where credit is due, Mark). We all had a lot of fun figuring out how to make an “F” hand sign. Westside vs. Fjordside. After leaving Yosemite we didn’t really think about Fjordside much more. I wouldn’t have guessed its revival.

Needless to say I’m not suggesting a feud. Nothing good comes out of that. But when the business idea had landed and we were thinking of the name to give it, my husband remembered. What about Fjordside? We can reinvent it with a much more wholesome approach. The name stuck immediately. I rushed to get the domain and all the social handles (this is not my first rodeo).

The fjords, although found in other places, are uniquely representative of Norway. We are indeed the Fjordside. And even though I will do my utmost to represent the other Nordic countries, I will have to do so through a Norwegian lens. That’s just a fact.

From feud to friendship, choose Fjordside.

– Ina Maria. Written by my own two hands. (and yes, I see we are really bad at using the correct hand for Fjordside so the F is how an F should look, but we were just kids man ;))