1. Cn.OctaviusRufus, quaestor about B. C. 230, may be regarded as the founder of the family. [OCTAVIA GENS.] Suetonius calls him Caius but this is probably a mistake, as Drumann has remarked, since the name of his eldest son was Cneius, and it was the rule among the Romans for the eldest son to inherit the praenomen of his father. (Suet. Aug. 2.)
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890