Dekani was first attested in written sources in 1328 as
Decani (and in 1423 as
Villae Canis). The name is derived from the noble family
de Cani. Locally, the name was misunderstood as derived from Italian
cane 'dog', leading to the local designation
Pasja vas (literally, 'dog village'), the
demonym Pesjan, and the associated adjective
pesjanski. Another theory, according to Salvator Žitko of the
University of Koper, is that the settlement got its name after its owner, the
Albanian nobleman Giovanni
Dukagjini, in 1480 based on the
Venetian archives of the city of
Koper. ==Church==