Dionysius mentions a Gaius Terentius Arsa, tribune of the plebs in 462 BC, but Livy calls him Terentilius, and from inscriptions this would seem to be a separate gens.
Gaius Terentius Varro, one of the Roman commanders at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, was the first to hold the consulship.
[3] The antiquarian Varro derived the nomen Terentius from a Sabine word, terenus, meaning "soft".
[5] The chief praenomina of the Terentii were Marcus, Gaius, Aulus, and Publius, all of which were very common throughout Roman history.
[3] Of these, Varro seems to be derived from the same root as the Latin baro, a fool; Culleo refers to a leather sack or pouch, and may have referred to a leatherworker; while Lucanus signified an inhabitant of Lucania, and must have been given to one of the Terentii who either came from or perhaps had some connection with that region, or its people.