History Main / MamasBabyPapasMaybe

* In Conn Iggulden's epic stories of the Mongol Empire, a recurring plot-theme concerns UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's uncertainty over the paternity of his eldest son Jechi (at the time of conception, his mother Borte was a prisoner of the Tartars and was known to have been raped). Because he half-believes in the "this is a Tartar's bastard" stories, Genghis repeatedly shuns and blanks his oldest son, or else gives him punitive or seemingly impossible tasks to complete that he would not dream of imposing on the favoured younger sons. This had consequences that stretched down the generations and caused the Mongol empire to collapse prematurely.

** In ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', it's revealed at the end that [[spoiler: the Fool]] is Tomjon's half-brother, and when Tomjon rejects the crown, he is made king. [[spoiler: It is then further revealed that their shared father is not the late king, but the late fool.]]

* In 1970, scandal erupted in Hollywood after Creator/PattyDuke revealed that she was pregnant while she was romantically linked with ''three'' men: Michael Tell, Desi Arnaz, Jr., and Creator/JohnAstin, who she ended up marrying and adopted her son, Creator/SeanAstin. Patty long believed Arnaz was Sean's biological father, but in the 1990s, Sean took a blood test which proved that Tell was his biological father, which was a bit of a forgone conclusion because he [[StrongFamilyResemblance resembled Tell]] quite a bit. However, [[HasTwoMommies he still thinks of all three men, along with her final husband Michael Pearce, as his fathers]].

All this trouble is embedded in such proverbs as "It's a wise child who knows his own father", and [[TitleDrop "Mama's baby, Papa's maybe."]]

# the word of the mother, who might be lying, or might not know herself (the subtrope WhosYourDaddy)
# stark differences or great similarities in skin, hair and eye colour (like a ChocolateBaby) or other forms of UncannyFamilyResemblance

All this trouble is embedded in such proverbs as "It's a wise child who knows his own father", and [[TitleDrop "Mama's baby, Papa's maybe".]]

Prior to the days of [[DaddyDNATest DNA testing]], it was basically impossible to verify a child's paternity. The only evidence:

* [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]] has been the subject of rumors about his parentage since a young age because of his red hair. Harry's mother Diana had an affair with British military officer James Hewitt (a redhead), leading to speculation that Hewitt, rather than Diana's then-husband [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIII Charles]], is Harry's biological father. Both Hewitt and Diana have stated their affair didn't begin until after Harry was born, and red hair runs in Diana's family -- two of her siblings are redheads. As an adult, Harry also looks [[https://www.etonline.com/prince-charles-looks-just-like-prince-harry-in-throwback-footage-113752 dramatically similar]] to Charles at the same age.

* In Creator/SharonShinn's ''Literature/JennaStarborn'', a [[TwiceToldTale retelling]] of ''Jane Eyre'', Everett Ravenbeck also has a ward of unknown paternity born to an erstwhile mistress--he tells the title character that he never had the child DNA-tested, much to her surprise.

* In ''Literature/{{Ladylord}}'', the baby Sen-Ya is believed to be the [[HeirClubForMen long-desired]] son and heir of First Lord Yassai, but is not actually Yassai's son. Yassai is mostly impotent, and to get pregnant, the concubine who gave birth to Sen-Ya visited the dungeons as an anonymous lady of the court and had sex with one of the prisoners (as the guards seem to indicate ladies of the court not infrequently do). Yassai assumes that the second part of Sen-Ya's name is to honour him, but it's actually from the prisoner.

* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Inverted in Ferdinand's case. One of the few facts about his mother that the story has cared to deliver is an antagonist claiming that nobody is sure who his mother is, while his father is the deceased former head of household of a high-status family. There is also a chapter from Ferdiand's point of view that mentions that his mother couldn't be relied upon to protect him from his WickedStepmother (his father's wife) and another chapter from his cousin's point of view mentions she offered him no protection whatoever. Things are further complicated by the fact that in the story's setting, it's perfectly normal for nobles to hide a child's existence from the public up to their seventh birthday and that guardianship shenanigans frequently happen during the first seven years of a child's life. It eventually turns out that [[spoiler:Ferdinand know who his birth mother is, but the reason he's keeping the secret also makes it less certain that his official father is his biological one, playing the trope staight in the process]].

** Inverted with [[HeroicBastard Jon Snow]]. His father, Lord Eddard Stark, raises and loves Jon alongside his true-born half-siblings at his home castle in Winterfell, openly presenting Jon as "his blood" which everyone assumes means his son. He provides him with a highborn upbringing but Jon has [[MissingMom no idea who his mother is]] as [[ChekhovsGun it has not been revealed]] to Jon, most characters in the series, or to the readers. As a result, a number of characters have provided {{Wild Mass Guess}}es of their own but none of them line up with the {{fanon}} conjecture, and the sole character who can confirm any of these preductions -- Howland Reed of Greywater Watch -- has yet to appear "on-screen." No one in-universe doubts that Jon is Ned's son since the two share the "classic Stark" appearance and personality traits. Jon even looks more like Ned's son than his trueborn sons (who all inherited more of their mother Catelyn's features), which is one of the reasons Catelyn resented Jon so much. Out of universe there is a theory that he's actually Ned's nephew via his sister Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, which is confirmed true in the TV adaptation ''Series/GameOfThrones'' at least.

* A major plot point in ''LightNovel/AssassinsPride''. There were enough witnesses that everyone is fairly confident that the female lead, Melida, wasn't SwitchedAtBirth, but they are far less confident that she is Duke Felgus's daughter since most people believe a MuggleBornOfMages to be impossible for a ducal house. It is widely agreed that it is far more likely that her wealthy but commoner mother had an affair with another commoner. Since Melida's mother, Melnoa, passed away some time ago, she is no longer available for anyone to ask, leaving Melida's family stuck investigating all of Melnoa's male friends and deciding whether or not to give up and [[OffingTheOffspring kill Melida]].

* This trope is played straight in ''Theatre/MammaMia'', despite the musical having been written after DNA testing became possible. One can speculate that it wasn't practical in the time frame before Sophie's wedding or wasn't available in the setting of a remote Greek island. In any case, DNA testing is never even suggested as a solution to the plot.

* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' fanfic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10487325/chapters/23135733 The Honourable Thing]], this is played with. Beshelar knows for certain that the child is not his, as the married the mother to save her reputation. He constantly has to dispel other characters' suspicions.

* ''Fanfic/RetrogradeMotion'': This is actually ''weaponized'' by Barbara for the [[FountainOfYouth de-aged]] Jason's cover story. Once it becomes clear they can no longer keep Jason cooped in the Manor, Barbara arranges an article to published in the paper that suggests Jason is Dick's possible lovechild with Artemis, so that way they have a reason to keep him near. The plan is to continue the charade until Jason is turned back to normal and then have the DaddyDNATest provide a negative so they can sweep it under the rug. [[spoiler:When the transformation turns out to be permanent, however, Dick and Artemis end up legally (if falsely) becoming Jason's biological parents in order to raise him]].

!!Indivual plays

* In 1970, scandal erupted in Hollywood after Creator/PattyDuke revealed that she was pregnant while she was romantically linked with ''three'' men: Michael Tell, Desi Arnaz, Jr., and Creator/JohnAstin, who she ended up marrying and would adopt her son, Creator/SeanAstin. Patty long believed Desi Arnaz was Sean's biological father, but in the 90s, Sean took a blood test proving that Michael Tell had been his biological father. However, [[HasTwoMommies he still thinks of all three men, along with her final husband Michael Pearce, as his fathers]].

* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Inverted in Ferdinand's case. One of the few facts about his mother that the story has cared to deliver is an antagonist claiming that nobody is sure who his mother is, while his father is the deceased former head of household of a high-status family. There is also a chapter from Ferdiand's point of view that mentions that his mother couldn't be relied upon to protect him from his WickedStepmother (his father's wife) and another chapter from his cousin's point of view mentions she offered him no protection whatoever. Things are further complicated by the fact that in the story's setting, it's perfectly normal for nobles to hide a child's existence from the public up to their seventh birthday and that guardianship shenanigans frequently happen during the first seven years of a child's life. It eventually turns out that [[spoiler:Ferdinand know who his birth mother is, but the reason he's keeping the secret also makes it much less likely that his official father is his biological one, playing the trope staight in the process]].

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Inverted in Ferdinand's case. One of the few facts about his mother that the story has cared to deliver is an antagonist claiming that nobody is sure which of Ferdinand's nobleman father's mistresses gave birth to him. There is also a chapter from Ferdiand's point of view that mentions that his mother couldn't be relied upon to protect him from his WickedStepmother (his father's wife) and another chapter from his cousin's point of view mentions she offered him no protection whatoever. It's hence unclear whether the antagonist was exaggerating the uncertainity of the identity or if it is uncertain ''because'' none of the candidates came to his help in his time of need. Things are further complicated by the fact that in the story's setting, it's perfectly normal for nobles to hide a child's existence from the public up to their seventh birthday and that guardianship shenanigans frequently happen during the first seven years of a child's life.

** Also inverted with Arya Stark, who has dark brown hair and gray eyes befitting a Stark... except it makes her an odd one out among her full siblings, Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rickon, who ''all'' have their mother Catelyn Tully's red hair and blue eyes. Years ago, she confided to her mother that she was afraid she is secretly a bastard like Jon Snow (who also has the classic Stark look), but Cat assured her that it isn't the case. That said, their shared looks are what make [[BigBrotherWorship Arya worship Jon so much]].

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' plays it both straight and inverted: in season 1 it's revealed that [[spoiler: Joffrey isn't actually Robert Baratheon's son, but rather Jaimie Lannister's by {{Main/Twincest}},]] and then in season 7 it's revealed that [[spoiler: Ned Stark isn't the father of Jon Snow, but rather that his mother was Ned's sister Lyanna by Rhaegar Targaryen; therefore Mama knows who the father is, but Jon doesn't know who ''either'' of his true parents are.]] It should be noted in this last instance, Ned Stark did know who Jon's real parents were: but chose not to reveal this information [[spoiler: to protect Jon from his friend Robert Baratheon]].

** Gold-haired Matthew Fairchild, the son of red-haired Henry Branwell and brown-haired Charlotte Fairchild, was taunted by Alastair Carstairs, who suggested that he was actually the product of an affair Charlotte had with the blond-haired Gideon Lightwood. He was insecure because his brother, Charles, had both Henry's red hair and Charlotte's leadership skills, while Matthew inherited none of those. One day, he was tricked to present a pregnant Charlotte a "TruthSerum" concocted by faeries, except the serum was a poison, which induced a reaction and caused her to miscarry. It's only then that Henry admitted that Matthew was really his son with Charlotte, and his gold hair actually came from Henry's great aunt, Matilda, from whom he got his name.

** Also inverted with Arya Stark, who has dark brown hair and gray eyes befitting a Stark... except it makes her an odd one out among her full siblings, Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rickon, who ''all'' have their mother Catelyn Tully's auburn hair and blue eyes. Years ago, she confided to her mother that she was afraid she is secretly a bastard like Jon Snow (who also has the classic Stark look), but Cat assured her that it isn't the case. That said, their shared looks are what makes [[BigBrotherWorship Arya worship Jon so much]].