These alternative meanings are sometimes considered incorrect in some parts of Scandinavia, and occasionally some people may take offence at such usage. In recent years "Scandinavia" has again increasingly been used by scholars and politicians, in Scandinavia and other regions, in the broader sense of Fennoscandinavia, with Finland included. [2]

The term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the republics of Finland and Iceland. More infrequently, the term is also used occasionally to include Estonia, owing to its cultural ties with Sweden, Denmark and Finland and its proximity to Scandinavia.

The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are used either to include the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kola peninsula, Karelia, Finland and Denmark under the same term alluding to the Fennoscandian Shield, even if Denmark is actually situated on the North European Plain, or they may be used in a more cultural sense, more or less as a synonym for the Nordic countries, to signify the historically close contact between Finnic, Sami and other Scandinavian peoples and cultures.