[roywiggins]

Yeah, but it didn't become a title until the Julio-Claudians started using it to designate their heirs. When Augustus took it on, it was just a powerful family name. Once the Julio-Claudians were finished, it was a title.

It seems overwhelmingly likely that when later emperors kept using it, they were referencing the dynasty that Augustus founded, not Julius Caesar personally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(title)#Sole_Roman_Empe...