 The main branch of the Dobi family in Albania is considered to be one of the oldest families of the medieval city of Gjirokastra and it is believed that they had first settled in the citadel inside the Castle of Gjirokastra by the year 1380.Since then, there have been 30 generations of people with the Dobi surname.A line of the Dobi family had established landholdings in the village of Damës, in the region of Tepelena, but by the end of the 16th century most of them had moved to Gjirokastra and the cadet branch of the family that stayed back in Damës formed the core of the Iliriani family.