In Egils sagaFaravid is directly said to be the "King of Kvenland". Two other sagas that mention Kvenland, Hversu Noregr byggðist and Orkneyinga saga, do not use that specific title. In Orkneyinga saga, Fornjót is said to be "a king". It is stated that he "reigned over Gotland, which we now know as Finland and Kvenland". Hversu Noregr byggðist has very similar usage for the title. This time, the great-grandson of Fornjót, Snær, and his son Thorri are told to be kings. Kvenland now appears in relation to Thorri, of whom it is said that "he ruled over Gothland, Kvenland, and Finland". Fornjót's great-grandson Snær is also mentioned in Ynglingasaga, in relation to Finland. Medieval texts that discuss the lineages sprung from Fornjót and his descendants – mainly Nór and Gór – leading to the later rulers of Sweden and other countries, include the following: Beowulf ; Íslendingabók ; Hyndluljóð ; Ynglingatal ; Primary Chronicle ; Historia Norvegiæ ; Gesta Danorum ; Skáldskaparmál ; Ynglinga saga ; Orkneyinga Saga ; Heimskringla ; Hversu Noregr byggðist, and its appendage Ættartölur. However, whether or not Fornjót and his immediate descendants were actual historical people has been debated. Kyösti Julku notes that no geographical errors have been found in the descriptions of the Orkneyinga Saga. He asks why therefore the people described in the account should be considered not to have existed.
As a name for a country or geographical region, the name Kvenland in that or close to that splelling seems to gradually have gone out of ordinary usage in the course of the late Middle Ages. In c. 1271, the Icelandic Annals uses the term Kven, stating the following: "Then Karelians and Kvens pillaged widely in Hålogaland." Mid-16th century Norwegian tax records too – the earliest available – mention Kvens. As the earliest account written in Swedish, Eric's Chronicle, dates to the 14th century, no pre-14th-century Swedish references to "Kvenland" or "Kvens" are therefore available. In the mid-16th century, the Swedish cartographer Olaus Magnus uses both terms, Kvens and Kvenland, marking for instance the name Birkarl Kvens in his map in 1539.
In 1604 Swedes founded a castle named Cajanaborgon an island on the Kajaani river. Shortly afterwards, in 1607, King Charles IX of Sweden called himself the ruler of – among other peoples – the "Caijaners". In the view of Kyösti Julku and many other historians, Caijaners, a Swedish name for the inhabitants of Kainuu, is here equivalent to the Old Norsekvenir. According to many historians, the term Kven, the Swedish term Caijaner, and the Finnic term kainulainen/kainuulainen are synonyms, meaning same in different languages. Charles IX's claim can thus be seen as "king of the Kvens". That year, 1607, King Charles IX of Sweden expanded his already lengthy title to be as follows: Charles IX's son Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden dropped the term "Lappers j Nordlanden, the Caijaners" from the title in 1611, when he succeeded his father as king, and that term was not added back nor similar wording was included later.
