The town is named after the island on which it is located: Vardøya.
 The Old Norse form of the name was Vargøy.
The first element is vargr which means "wolf" and the last element is øy which means "island".
 The first element was later replaced (around 1500) with varða which means "cairn".
The town is named after the island on which it is located: Vardøya.  The Old Norse form of the name was Vargøy. The first element is vargr which means "wolf" and the last element is øy which means "island".  The first element was later replaced (around 1500) with varða which means "cairn".
Vardø (town)