The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Spurius Nautius Rutilus in 488 BC, and from then until the Samnite Wars the Nautii regularly filled the highest offices of the Roman Republic.
After that time, the Nautii all but disappear from the record, appearing only in a handful of inscriptions, mostly from Rome and Latium.
[1] A few Nautii occur in imperial times, including a number who appear to have been freedmen, and in the provinces.
The Nautii themselves claimed to be descended from Nautes or Nautius, a companion of Aeneas, who brought the Palladium, a sacred statue of Athena from Troy.
The later Nautii used Marcus, Gaius, Publius, Lucius, and Quintus, all of which were very common names throughout Roman history.