- Sedefkar Mehmed Agha (1540–1617)
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) – known as Atatürk ("father of the Turks"); Turkish statesman and founder and first president of the Republic[3][4][5][6][7][8]
- Ballaban Badera – commander of Ottoman Empire
- Marin Barleti – historian and Catholic priest; considered the first Albanian historian, especially because of his biography on Skanderbeg, translated in many languages in the 16th to the 18th centuries
- Bekim Berisha
- Bardhok Biba
- Isa Boletini
- Ibrahim Bushati
- Kara Mahmud Bushati (1740–1796)
- Mehmed Bushati
- Mustafa Bushati
- Prek Cali
- Dervish Cara – leader of the Albanian Revolt of 1843–1844
- Pope Clement XI (Giovanni Francesco Albani) (1649–1721)
- Bajram Curri
- Ali Demi (1918–1943)
- Lekë Dukagjini – prince and member of Dukagjini family; contemporary ofSkanderbeg; known for the Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, a code of law instituted in northern Albania
- Ali Demi
- Pal Engjëlli – Catholic clergyman; Archbishop of Durrës and Cardinal of Albania; in 1462, wrote the first known sentence retrieved so far in the Albanian language
- Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873–1936) – of Albanian descent
- Nezim Frakulla (1680–1760)
- Shote Galica
- Carl Ritter von Ghega (1802–1860) – designer of the Semmering Railway
- George Ghica – founder of Ghica family
- Shtjefën Gjeçovi (1873–1929) – Catholic priest, ethnologist and folklorist; known for being the father of Albanians' folklore studies
- Luigj Gurakuqi
- Ramush Haradinaj (born 1968) – former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army and former Prime Minister of Kosovo
- Adem Jashari
- Hamëz Jashari
- Branko Kadija
- Hamza Kastrioti
- Ali Kelmendi
- Fatmir Limaj – politician from Kosovo; during the 1998–1999 Kosovo War, was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the Lapušnik area
- Ded Gjo Luli
- Misto Mame
- Jordan Misja
- Iljas Mirahori (1408–1512)
- Aleksandër Moisiu (1879–1935) – Austrian stage actor of Albanian descent; first in Europe to interpret characters from August Strindberg, Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Luigi Pirandello, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal; in Berlin, was acclaimed for his 1906 performance of Oswald in Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and in the premiere of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening
- Bule Naipi
- Zahir Pajaziti
- Selam Musai
- Ahmet Kurt Pasha
- Ali Pasha (1740–1822)
- Ali Pasha of Gucia (1828–1885)
- Edhem Pasha (1851–1909)
- Ibrahim Pasha of Berat
- Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt (1789–1848)
- Kara Murat Pasha
- Koca Davud Pasha (14??–1498)
- Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha (1635–1676)
- Köprülü Mehmed Pasha (1575–1661)
- Lütfi Pasha (1488-1564) – grand vizier of Ottoman Empire
- Mahmud Dramali Pasha (1780–1822)
- Muhammad Ali of Egypt (1769–1849)
- Ismail Qemali (1844–1919) – leader of the Albanian national movement; founder of the modern Albanian state and its first head of state and government
- Mustafa Reshiti
- Perlat Rexhepi
- Ibrahim Rugova
- Haxhi Shehreti
- Hodo Sokoli (1836–1883)
- Mic Sokoli
- Qemal Stafa
- Hashim Thaçi (born 1968) – Prime Minister of Kosovo; leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo; former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army
- Karl Topia (1331-1388) – prince of Albania
- Pretash Zekaj Ulaj (known as Pretash Zekaj)
- Mujo Ulqinaku
- Muhamet Xhemajli
- Asim Vokshi
- Vrana Konti (Count Vrana) (1442–1458) – Skanderbeg's general
- Omer Vrioni
- Tahir Zemaj