probably plebeian. Persons of this name rarely occur, though one member of the gens, Q. Aulius Cerretanus, obtained the consulship twice in the Samnite war, in B. C. 323 and 319. The name is derived from the praenomen Aulus, as Sextius from Sextus, Marcius from Marcus, and Quintius from Quintus. The only cognomen belonging to this gens is CERRETANUS.