It's a very famous surname in Albania and Kosova. It is spelled KELMENDI and the origin goes back centuries. These days a lot of people have it as their surname but the majority use other surnames. Most recent famous person was late president Rugova and he was a Kelmendi. From my family tree within the last one hundred years only one family kept its surname Kelmendi. I and my two children we are in discussion to go back to the Kelmendi surname as we feel we are from the Kelmendi clan in Kosova.