Uurainen

For the lake in Laukaa, see Lake Uurainen.

Municipality in Central Finland, Finland

Uurainen

Municipality

Uuraisten kunta
Uurainens kommun

Uurainen Church

Coat of arms

Location of Uurainen in Finland

Coordinates: 62°30′N 025°26.2′E﻿ / ﻿62.500°N 25.4367°E﻿ / 62.500; 25.4367
Country|  Finland
Region| Central Finland
Sub-region| Jyväskylä
Charter| 1868
Government

• Municipal manager| Juha Valkama
Area

(2018-01-01)[1]

• Total

| 372.26 km2 (143.73 sq mi)
• Land| 347.98 km2 (134.36 sq mi)
• Water| 24.22 km2 (9.35 sq mi)
• Rank| 221st largest in Finland
Population

(2025-06-30)[2]

• Total

| 3,652
• Rank| 198th largest in Finland
• Density| 10.49/km2 (27.2/sq mi)
Population by native language

[3]

• Finnish| 98.4% (official)
• Others| 1.6%
Population by age

[4]

• 0 to 14| 25.3%
• 15 to 64| 54.5%
• 65 or older| 20.2%
Time zone| UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website| uurainen.fi

Uurainen (Swedish: Uurainen, also Urais) is a municipality of Finland.

It is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of 3,652 (30 June 2025)[2] and covers an area of 372.26 square kilometres (143.73 sq mi) of which 24.22 km2 (9.35 sq mi), or roughly 6.5%, is water.[1] The population density is 10.49 inhabitants per square kilometre (27.2/sq mi).

Neighbouring municipalities are Jyväskylä, Laukaa, Multia, Petäjävesi, Saarijärvi and Äänekoski.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

## Etymology

[edit]

The name Uurainen is derived from the lakes Iso-Uurainen and Pieni-Uurainen. The root word for these lake names is most likely uuro, a dialectal word meaning "riverbed", referring to the Takapuro river between the two lakes, as it has been a strait in the past.[6] Uurainen is also the name of a register village in the municipality.

## Geography

[edit]

### Lakes

[edit]

There are all together 125 lakes in Uurainen. The biggest lakes are Kyynämöinen, Sääkspää and Iso-Uurainen.[7]

### Villages

[edit]

Settlements:[8]

* Kotaperä
* Linnanperä
* Pohjanperä
* Kelloperä
* Haukimäki
* Kyynämöinen
* Hepomäki
* Höytiä
* Tehlo
* Kirkonkylä
* Hiirola

* Jokihaara
* Vihtaperä
* Oikarinperä
* Murtoperä
* Kummunkylä
* Pirttiperä
* Myllyperä
* Kangashäkki
* Sälliperä
* Hirvaskylä

|

Register villages:[8]

* Kuukkajärvi
* Uurainen
* Kangashäkki
* Höytiä
* Nyrölä (mostly in Jyväskylä)

## History

[edit]

Six possible Stone Age settlements have been found on the territory of modern Uurainen. Four of these sites are in Kuukkajärvi, one in the village of Uurainen and another one in Höytiä. Evidence for permanent Iron Age settlement has not been found.[9]

The area of modern Uurainen was devoid of a permanent settled population in the Middle Ages. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, these lands were held as hunting grounds by Tavastians. The first settler of Uurainen was Paavo Minkkinen, who in 1548 established a farm named Salmela in the hunting grounds of Heinäjoensuu, owned by the men of the village of Laitikkala in Kulsiala (nowadays in Pälkäne). This area would later become the register village of Kuukkajärvi. Paavo Minkkinen, like almost all settlers of Uurainen, was a Savonian. The Minkkinen family likely originated from Pellosniemi near modern Mikkeli.[10]

The first register villages to be established in the area were Kuukkajärvi and Akonjärvi, both of which were first mentioned in 1561. Akonjärvi was merged into Kuukkajärvi in 1586.[11]

Uurainen was originally a part of the parish of Saarijärvi. It was mentioned in 1741 under the Swedish name Uhrais. The area got its own chapel in 1801 and was variously called Uurainen, Kuukkajärvi, Kuukka and Minkkilä. The area had multiple names as the vicarage (pappila) was located in the register village of Uurainen while the church was located in the village of Kuukkajärvi on the lands of the Minkkilä farm.[6]

Uurainen became a separate parish in 1868, though the separation effectively happened in 1887.[12] The northern part of Nyrölä, which at that time included Höytiä, was transferred from the Jyväskylä parish to Uurainen in 1868.[13]

## Gallery

[edit]

* Lake Kuorejärvi

* The belfry of the Uurainen Church

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
2. ^ a b "Population increased most in Uusimaa in January to June 2025". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2025-07-24. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
3. ^ "Number of foreign-language speakers exceeded 600,000 during 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2025-04-04. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2025-04-05.
4. ^ "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
5. ^ a b "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
6. ^ a b "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja_e-kirja_kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 481. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
7. ^ "Uurainen (kunta)". Järviwiki. Finland's Environmental Administration. 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
8. ^ a b Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, pages 26-27.
9. ^ Sinisalo, Hannu (1993). Uurainen: Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään 1868-1993 (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy. p. 19\. ISBN 951-96762-0-1.
10. ^ Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, page 20.
11. ^ Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, page 21.
12. ^ "Suomen Sukututkimusseura - Uurainen". hiski.genealogia.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved June 10, 2023.
13. ^ Lappalainen, Jussi T. (1977). Jyväskylän maalaiskunnan kirja (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän maalaiskunta ja maaseurakunta. p. 53\. ISBN 951-99104-3-3.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Uurainen at Wikimedia Commons

* Municipality of Uurainen – Official website (in Finnish)

Places adjacent to Uurainen

|  | Saarijärvi | Äänekoski

|
|

|  |
Multia |

Uurainen

| Laukaa
|  |
| Petäjävesi | Jyväskylä

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Municipalities of Central Finland

Municipalities|

* Äänekoski
* Hankasalmi
* Jämsä
* Joutsa
* Jyväskylä
* Kannonkoski
* Karstula
* Keuruu
* Kinnula
* Kivijärvi
* Konnevesi
* Kyyjärvi
* Laukaa
* Luhanka
* Multia
* Muurame
* Petäjävesi
* Pihtipudas
* Saarijärvi
* Toivakka
* Uurainen
* Viitasaari

Former municipalities|

* Äänekosken maalaiskunta
* Jämsänkoski
* Jyväskylän maalaiskunta
* Konginkangas
* Korpilahti
* Koskenpää
* Leivonmäki
* Pihlajavesi
* Pylkönmäki
* Säynätsalo
* Sumiainen
* Suolahti

* Central Finland
* Finland

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* 2
* VIAF
* FAST

National|

* United States
* Israel
* Finland

Geographic|

* MusicBrainz area

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