Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"He is often described as the "last Western Roman emperor", though some historians consider this to be Julius Nepos. His deposition by Odoacer traditionally marks the end of the Roman Empire in the West, the end of Ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe.
. . . The Latin suffix -ulus is a diminutive; hence Augustulus effectively means "Little Augustus". The name Romulus was also changed derisively to Momyllus meaning "little disgrace". . . . He was the son of Orestes, a Roman who once served as a secretary in the court of Attila the Hun before coming into the service of Julius Nepos in AD 475. In the same year he was promoted to the rank of magister militum, but then led a military revolt that forced Nepos to flee into exile. With the capital of Ravenna under his control, Orestes appointed his son Romulus to the throne despite the lack of support from the eastern court in Constantinople. . . . After ten months in power, during which time his authority and legitimacy were disputed beyond Italy, Romulus was forced to abdicate by Odoacer, a Germanic foederatus officer who defeated and executed Orestes." Odoacer sent Romulus in exile. [Wikipedia]