History Main / MamasBabyPapasMaybe

* An episode of ''{{House}}'' plays with and lamp-shades the gender double-standard of the trope when the title character tries to do a DaddyDNATest on Taub's kids (from simultaneous pregnancies with the two woman he had been seeing). [[spoiler: After a moment of weakness, Taub shreds the results without looking.]]

* The paternity of Aeryn's pregnancy became a prevalent source of angst during season four of {{Farscape}}. Thanks to FantasyContraception, Peacekeeper females can hold an embryo in stasis for up to seven cycles (years), so Aeryn had no way of knowing if the child was Crichton's until she made it to a medical facility near the end of the season.
* This pops up with Claudia Black again in season 9 of StargateSG1. Vala, upon accidentally arriving in the Ori galaxy, finds herself pregnant and gets married to avoid punishment from the incredibly religious townspeople. Her husband does eventually find out that the child is "the will of the Ori", making Vala's pregnancy a (rather dark) take on immaculate conception.

** In ''TheWintersTale'', Leontes doubts that he is the father of either Mamillus or Perdita.

* On ''MyNameIsEarl'', this comes up more than once. The first time is when Joy is pregnant, and Earl thinks the baby is his...but she has been sleeping with Darnell, and [[ChocolateBaby the truth comes out 9 months later]]. It comes up again with the other child, Dodge. Earl has Dodge's DNA tested and finds out that [[spoiler: he is Dodge's biological father. He just didn't remember Joy, whom he had casual sex with at a costume party.]] Earl also finds out that [[spoiler: Earl Jr. isn't really Darnell's, as was previously thought.]]
* An episode of ''{{House}}'' has the title character trying to do a DaddyDNATest on Taub's kids. [[spoiler: After a moment of weakness, Taub shreds the results without looking.]]

* In ''KingOfTheHill'' everybody knows that [[ConspiracyTheorist Dale]]'s son, [[ChocolateBaby Joseph]], is really [[ReallyGetsAround John Redcorn]]'s child--everyone except Dale and Joseph, that is.

* ''[[http://lonchaney.org/filmography/153.html West of Zanzibar]]'': LonChaney plays a man whose wife was going to run away with another man and then [[DeathByChildbirth died shortly after childbirth]]. He [[RevengeByProxy raises his "daughter" to be an alcoholic prostitute]]. Then the other man shows up, and tells him that his wife never went away with him - [[TwilightZoneTwist the child is his own]].

This can be a source of tension and drama even when the mother is honest, because neither the child nor the father can prove it. The GreenEyedMonster is very prone to doubt. It can also complicate HeirClubForMen, as the man actually wants the heir to be his child.

Why LukeIMightBeYourFather is a trope.

* In AndreNorton's ''The Jargoon Pard'', Kethan is his uncle's heir because as his sister's son, he is his most reliable kin.

* In Angis Sage's SeptimusHeap novel ''Magyk'', Sally is convinced that this trope explains why Jenna doesn't look like her family. Fortunately. In reality, Jenna's a foundling, and they must hide her origin.

Prior to the days of DNA testing, it was impossible to verify a child's paternity, and the only evidence besides the word of the mother (who might not know herself in the subtrope WhosYourDaddy) would be ChocolateBaby or other forms of UncannyFamilyResemblance, whether to the putative father or the other man. A piece of knowledge embedded in such proverbs as, "It's a wise child who knows his own father," and "[[TropeNamer Mama's baby, Papa's maybe]]."

A trope for historical settings, as DNA testing is the TropeBreaker, unless identical twins, or clones, are the purported father, or for some reason, testing is impossible. In modern settings, this trope is usually resolved/replaced with the DaddyDNATest (and a visit to ''{{Maury}}'').

A trope for historical settings, as DNA testing is the TropeBreaker, unless identical twins, or clones, are the purported father, or for some reason, testing is impossible.

This can be a source of tension and drama even when the mother is honest, because neither the child nor the father can prove it. The GreenEyedMonster is very prone to doubt.

Coupled by patriarchal and patrilineal societies, this makes the consequences SeriousBusiness since a "true heir" must be the father's son.

* In ''KingOfTheHill'' everybody knows that Dale's son is really John Redcorn's son - everyone except Dale, that is.

* On ''TwoAndAHalfMen'', Alan's ex wife Lilith had a daughter with her current husband Herb. Alan, however, suspects he might actually be the father, after he and Lilith had a brief tryst while she and Herb were separated.

* ''[[http://lonchaney.org/filmography/153.html West of Zanzibar]]'': LonChaney plays a man whose wife was going to run away with another man and then [[DeathByChildbirth died shortly after childbirth]]. He raises his "daughter" to be an alcoholic prostitute. Then the other man shows up, and tells him that his wife never went away with him - the child is his own.

-->--'''{{Homer}}''', ''Literature/{{Odyssey}}''

-->--'''{{Homer}}''', ''Literature/Odyssey''

Prior to the days of DNA testing, it was impossible to verify a child's paternity, and the only evidence besides the word of the mother (who might not know herself in the subtrope WhosYourDaddy) would be ChocolateBaby or other forms of UncannyFamilyResemblance, whether to the putative father or the other man. A piece of knowledge embeded in such proverbs as "It's a wise child who knows his own father" and "[[TropeNamer Mama's baby, Papa's maybe]]."

A powerful force behind MyGirlIsNotASlut and NatureAdoresAVirgin in RealLife, because a man's sexual escapades can not leave the woman wondering, nine months later, whether she really gave birth to that baby. To what extent there is reason to doubt in real life is not known; numerous urban legends claim a high percentage of babies are attributed to false fathers, but the location of the studies determining this tends to migrate a lot.

->--'''{{Homer}}''', ''{{Odyssey}}''