According to a legend, upon the death of Pavle Orlović, his four sons escaped from their hometown, Čarađe, near Gacko, and fled to the village called "Velimlje", in Banjani (medieval state of Zeta, modern-day Montenegro).

One of his most famous descendants is voivode Milija, a prominent figure of the national Montenegrin epic The Mountain Wreath, written by Petar II Petrović-Njegoš.

Nenoje (Bajo) moved to the last retreat, in the wake of the advancing Ottoman Turks, of the last Zetan medieval dynasty, Cetinje (an area called Bajice), with his family, thus founding the Martinovići clan.

According to one of the versions of the Orlović family story Jovan Erdeljanović heard in Bajice, four brothers did in fact relocate from Gacko to Cuce.

[3]: 153  Thus Jireček cites that the first mention of the clan Bjelica in Konavli, region adjacent to Dubrovnik and repossessed by them at that time, dates from 1430 ("50-60 houses of Vlachorum Belize from Zeta")[4] Kovijanić cites a document from the coastal town of Kotor, dated September 1, 1440, that records a money lending contract between Thudor Nenoe Ivanovich from Cetinje and Luka Pautinov from Kotor, whereby Ivanovich promises to repay the sum he lent to buy an armor by Christmas time or with a 20% interest thereafter.

Since Ivanovich is a patronymic revealing the name of his grandfather Ivan and father Nenoe, Kovijanić concludes that, given the timeframe, Ivan could well have been a contemporary of the main actors of the Battle of Kosovo, including his relative Pavle Orlović himself, one of the two main characters of the folk epic poem The Kosovo Maiden It is probably on the basis of this information contrasted with many versions of the story of the family migration and those involved in it which overlap but are not identical, that Kovijanić concludes that it is more likely that the migration did not involve direct offspring of Pavle Orlović but his (many) relatives.

[3]: 151–152 Voivode Bijela, who is also known as "Rade" and "Orli Ban", was the grandson of Martin Orlović (Pavle's brother) and is said to have been the lord of the fortress of Moštanica in Župa Nikšićka.

[6] It is important to note that countries with Byzantine culture, such as Montenegro and Serbia, could not have inherited the heraldry tradition from the Empire because there was virtually none.

The coat of arms of the Orlović family featured here comes from the unreliable Korenić-Neorić Armorial and the fact that, in this territory in-between the East and the West, it represents an obvious crusader influence.

Uroš Predić, in his famous painting The Kosovo Maiden, depicts the agonizing Pavle Orlović with a coat of arms featuring a black eagle on a red background Other than through marriages with royal houses Petrović of Montenegro and Karađorđević of Serbia, and the fact that a branch of Martinović family may stand at the beginnings of the Serbian dynasty Obrenović, none of Pavle Orlović's descendants has a recognized status of nobility.

[citation needed] Since a noble family is, in both Christian West and East, characterized by a major role it plays in the affairs of a state, usually military, but also by its possessions, it would be normal to expect that there are historical testimonies to that effect.

However, written records are practically non-existent, except when it comes to various military roles assumed by some members of the clan throughout the Turkish period, mainly as defenders of the lands of Montenegro and Hercegovina.

[citation needed] There are varied oral accounts whose reliability is ultimately unverifiable, starting with Vuk Orle as a commander of the Soko Grad on the border between Serbia and Bosnia.

In case of Montenegro, it seems that many of the possessions of the former Montenegrin dynasty Crnojević, made extinct by the Turks, have been occupied by various branches of the clan, but that doesn't necessarily speak of any blood relation between the two families.

[citation needed] Descendants of the Orlović can be found in the royal families Karađorđević through the Princess Ljubica "Ziva" of Serbia, and House of Savoy through the Queen Elena of Italy, daughters of Nicholas I of Montenegro, and Montenegrin Royal house of Petrović Njegoš through various members of the Martinović family.

Orlići / Орлићи) are descendants of Pavle Orlović and are connected to the oldest living Serbian noble house dating from Vuk Orle.

In 1638, a number of the Orlic clan relocated further north west to Brinje to the villages of Draškovica and Vodoteć where they lived, tax free, defending the Austro-Hungarian empire from the Ottomans.

The most famous non-noble descendant of Pavle Orlović is Serb scientist Nikola Tesla who was born in the region of Lika in modern-day Croatia.