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Skanderna is not used in Sweden. As Hans said, we say "Fjällen".

But this discussion is old, we had it when I created the page The Scandes. The name Scandinavian Mountains wasn't good enough either. And Kjölen is as local for it as is Fjällen.
Therefore I called the Royal Geological Institute and asked what the English name was for that mountain chain. They came back with the name The Scandes.

But I agree with others in this thread - there were many names that unexpectedly didn't work.

My thoughts on this subject are as follows:

Skanderna
I have seen Skanderna (The Scandes) used a few times, but only professionally by geographers or geologists.

Kölen
The common Norwegian name Kjølen (Swedish: Kölen) I have also seen a few times in Swedish, but usually in a poetic or literary context. It means "the keel", and possibly comes from viewing the Scandinavian peninsula as a (viking) boat turned upside down, with the mountain range as the keel. Chewbacca claims that its Norwegian use is just for the mountains along the border. That may be logical, as the border between Norway and Sweden follows the water divide (except in the extreme south).

Fjällen
For me, the word Fjäll is just a big mountain, snowclad most of the year. Smaller mountains are called berg. Fjällen is the plural definite form used for a group of fjäll.

I have never regarded the name Fjällen as a name for the Scandinavian mountain range, and especially not for that part that lies completely in the south of Norway.

The Norweigian call any mountain a fjell, but then of course there are no small mountains in Norway.

For me the typical Swedish use of fjällen, is that of people telling what they are going to do on their winter vacation: "We are going to fjällen" (meaning going skiing in the mountains).

Chewbacca wrote:Regarding the mountains in Scandinavian:

Something like 80-90 % of the mountains are situated in Norway. The name Skanderne (The Scandes) is practically unknown in Norway. There is only 2 (two) Google references in Norway to Skanderne. You have to be a Geologist to have heared the name.

Skanderne/Skandarne/The Scandes is (from what I gathered) a name used in Sweden for the mountains.

Kjølen is in Norway popularily used as a name for the (lowish) mountains along the border between Norway and Sweden - not the main mountain areas inside Norway or the mountains inside Sweden.

Scandinavian Mountains is probably the only correct name for the mountains in Scandinavia.

Skanderne is not used in Denmark either!

There are no mountains in Denmark.

Lolli wrote:There are no mountains in Denmark.

Not even a little one?

charles wrote:

Lolli wrote:There are no mountains in Denmark.

Not even a little one?

Only hills!