Øvre Eiker

Øvre Eiker kommune
Municipality
View of the village of Vestfossen
Coat of arms Buskerud within Norway
Øvre Eiker within Buskerud
Coordinates: 59°46′19″N 9°50′10″E / 59.77194°N 9.83611°E / 59.77194; 9.83611Coordinates: 59°46′19″N 9°50′10″E / 59.77194°N 9.83611°E / 59.77194; 9.83611
Country	Norway
County	Buskerud
District	Eiker, Lower Buskerud
Administrative centre	Hokksund
Government
• Mayor (2009)	Ann Sire Fjerdingstad (H)
Area
• Total	457 km2 (176 sq mi)
• Land	418 km2 (161 sq mi)
Area rank	223 in Norway
Population (2005)
• Total	15,633
• Rank	62 in Norway
• Density	37/km2 (100/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	4.3 %
Demonym(s)	Eikværing
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0624
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.ovre-eiker.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Øvre Eiker is a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hokksund. The old municipality of Eiker was divided into Øvre Eiker (upper Eiker) and Nedre Eiker (lower) on 1 July 1885.

The Old Norse form of the name was Eikjar. The name is the plural form of eiki which means "oak wood". The meaning of Øvre Eiker is "(the) upper (part of) Eiker". (The municipality of Eiker was divided in 1885.)

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 24 October 1981. The arms show three silver oak leaves and two acorns on a blue background. The oak is a canting element, since Eik means oak in the Norwegian language.

(See also coat-of-arms of Eigersund, Nedre Eiker, Songdalen and Tingvoll)

The municipality is located in the southern part of Buskerud county and is bordered by the municipalities of Kongsberg, Flesberg, Sigdal, Modum, Lier, Nedre Eiker, and Hof.

The administrative center of Hokksund is the largest town in this municipality, with about 8,000 inhabitants. The remaining 7,000 inhabitants live in the villages of Vestfossen, Skotselv, Ormåsen, and Darbu.