History Main / MyGrandsonMyself

---"If it's just giving a temporary introduction to ordinary people, then there is no problem. But you will use your real name when conversing with fellow immortals, and your body will reject establishing a false identity in this world"

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' -- as part of the original 1711 contract, all immortals are rendered incapable of establishing long-term false identities, which means all of them will eventually have to give that awkward explanation as to why their passport claims they're six or seven times older than they look.
** While immortals must reveal their true identity in the presence of another immortal, there is nothing that states they can't create false identities around mortals.
** According to [[spoiler: Ronnie]] in the prologue of ''[[AllThereInTheManual The Rolling Bootlegs]]'', there's a mental block against setting false [=IDs=]:
--->"If it's just giving a temporary introduction to ordinary people, then there is no problem. But you will use your real name when conversing with fellow immortals, and your body will reject establishing a false identity in this world"

* Both NicolasCage and KeanuReeves are known to have had ancestors who looked remarkably similar to them, which has lead fans to (jokingly) speculate that they're actually immortal. It helps that [[OlderThanTheyLook neither of them have aged very visibly in the decades since their movie careers started]]. Hmm...

* In ''TabletopGame/FreedomCity'', Daniel Daedalus, a GadgeteerGenius who is a member of the modern day Freedom League under the name Daedalus, allows people to believe he's the son of the Daedalus who was a member of the SilverAge Freedom League. It's simpler than explaining he's ''actually Daedalus''.

* MilestoneComics ''ComicBook/{{Icon}}'' series. The title character started off as "Augustus Freeman" in Civil-War-Era America and made a habit of this sort of identity change. By the time the comic started in the late 20th century, he was Augustus Freeman IV.

* In the backstory of Charles Sheffield's novel ''The Ganymede Club'', a spaceship crew ran into something that apparently made them immortal. They cover this up by occasionally faking their deaths and starting over with new identities (this is [[ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverstory made easier]] by a massively destructive Earth-Belt war between the incident and the time of the story).

* In ''Film/{{Dracula 2000}}'', Dr. Abraham Van Helsing uses Dracula's blood to keep himself immortal, in order to continue research on how to kill the vampire king for good. In the modern day, he passes himself as his grandson, "Matthew Van Helsing".
** This has the side effect of [[spoiler:allowing Dracula to track down his daughter, who has some of his blood within her]].

-> '''Willow''': Wow! Like father like son.
-> '''Oz''': How 'bout exact same guy like exact same guy.
--> -- ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "Enemies"

* In ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', Mina Harker and Allan Quartermain drink from the FountainOfYouth, restoring both to their late-20s selves. Mina lives on as herself and is noted to be "remarkably well-preserved," while Allan invokes this trope and poses as "Allan Quartermain Jr."

* The title character of ''ComicBook/{{Supreme}}'', [[ClarkKenting aka Ethan Crane]], due to his powers, ages very slowly, and, despite being born in 1920, [[OlderThanTheyLook looks to be in his mid-to-late thirties]]. When he met the universe's now elderly {{Expy}} of Lana Lang [[spoiler: inhabited by the spirit of the ComicBook/LexLuthor {{Expy}}]], in the late 90s, she briefly recognises him as her old friend Ethan Crane, but then assumes he must be Ethan Crane's son since Ethan couldn't possibly look the same as he did decades ago. For the rest of the series he goes by the name "Ethan Crane Jr.", [[ThrowItIn posing as his own son]]. It's helped by the fact that Supreme, and therefore "Ethan Crane Sr." disappeared into space in the late 60s, and only returned over twenty years later. Although we later learn he never bothered to make up a name for his mother.

* John in ''TheManFromEarth'' claims that he has passed himself off as his own son multiple times.

* In the ''{{Belgariad}}'', Tolnedrans don't believe in Belgarath and Polgara's immortality, and think it's actually a dynasty of sorts.

* ChelseaQuinnYarbro's immortal vampire Saint-Germain would leave an area for a time (decades, usually, though he does this more quickly in ''The Palace''), and then return under a new identity as the nephew of his previous identity to claim his "inheritance". He might not use the exact same name, but would re-shuffle his usual ones (justifiable, as noble families often have traditional names that get re-used).

* As in [[TheDCU the comics]], Vandal Savage in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.

* VandalSavage in TheDCU.

* An episode of ''TheTwilightZone'' had a woman who did this, and claimed that the old woman living with her was her elderly mother when it was really her ''daughter''. [[spoiler:And it turns out she was actually [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Cleopatra]] and had discovered an ancient Egyptian magic that enabled her to stay immortal by sucking the youth out of people using scarabs]].
* Stefan and Damon Salvatore of ''TheVampireDiaries'' pretend to be descendants of "the original Salvatore brothers" from Mystic Falls' founding families. However, when Elena discovers that both Stefan Salvatores are identical, she realizes the truth.

* ''Anime/NeoAngelique'' has [[spoiler:[[MeaningfulName Nyx]]]], who reveals to an old friend that he is in fact in old friend instead of the grandson of his friend.

* Ernst von Boem in ''Anime/RahXephon''.
* Rin from ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'' uses this during a visit to an old acquaintance from WWII when the latter recognizes her.
* ''NeoAngelique'' has [[spoiler:[[MeaningfulName Nyx]]]], who reveals to an old friend that he is in fact in old friend instead of the grandson of his friend.
* Subverted in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}!'' -- as part of the original 1711 contract, all immortals are rendered incapable of establishing long-term false identities, which means all of them will eventually have to give that awkward explanation as to why their passport claims they're six or seven times older than they look.

* In ''Anime/{{Superbook}}'' this is how our time-traveling protagonists explain still looking like children when they meet Rebecca again, in an adventure set at least forty years after they last saw her.

* The ex-geisha [[TomboyishName Mamekishi]] from ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'' managed to reside in the same Tokyo [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire neighborhood]] for centuries using this trick. As she did not venture out in the daylight it was by her account easy to feign aging for a few decades with acting and minimal cosmetics before she 'died' and 'her granddaughter' moved in.

* The title character of ''{{Supreme}}'', [[ClarkKenting aka Ethan Crane]], due to his powers, ages very slowly, and, despite being born in 1920, [[OlderThanTheyLook looks to be in his mid-to-late thirties]]. When he met the universe's now elderly {{Expy}} of Lana Lang [[spoiler: inhabited by the spirit of the ComicBook/LexLuthor {{Expy}}]], in the late 90s, she briefly recognises him as her old friend Ethan Crane, but then assumes he must be Ethan Crane's son since Ethan couldn't possibly look the same as he did decades ago. For the rest of the series he goes by the name "Ethan Crane Jr.", [[ThrowItIn posing as his own son]]. It's helped by the fact that Supreme, and therefore "Ethan Crane Sr." disappeared into space in the late 60s, and only returned over twenty years later. Although we later learn he never bothered to make up a name for his mother.

* Some of the immortals in ''TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel'' are mentioned as doing this at least once in their immortal lives.

* Ernst von Boem in ''RahXephon''.

* ''{{Magellan}}'' has the case of elderly superhero [[spoiler:Gola Beh]] pulling this after [[spoiler:being exposed to a forced FountainOfYouth. She pretends to be a grand-niece named Olga Beh]].
* ''{{VampireCheerleaders}}'': The bakertown cheerleaders. Since they're the eternally-young type, with each readmission to the school they pass themselves off as the "previous generation's daughters", claiming that they're from a long line of expert cheerleaders when in fact they've had over fifty years of cheerleading experience. [[DrunkenMaster It shows]].

* {{Hawkman}} started doing this after the Golden Age Hawkman from the 1940s was retconned into being the same character as the currently active Hawkman.

* Mick St. John tries this trick in an episode of ''{{Moonlight}}'', although he is actually pretty young by vampire standards (only 90). The only reason he does this is because a criminal he helped put away decades before (and revealed his GameFace to) has been released on parole and is out for revenge (having brushed up on his vampire lore in prison). When Beth mentions that Mick's name came up in relation to the criminal, Mick claims it was his late father, Mick St. John, Sr. Later on, Beth interviews a retired blind cop who personally knew Mick back in the day (and still does, as Mick still visits him) and mentions Mick's "late father". The cop is confused, as the Mick he knows is alive and well... and never had children. By next episode, though, this is no longer necessary, as Beth knows the truth.

* The title character of ''{{Supreme}}'', [[ClarkKenting aka Ethan Crane]], due to his powers, ages very slowly, and, despite being born in 1920, [[OlderThanTheyLook looks to be in his mid-to-late thirties]]. When he met the universe's now elderly {{Expy}} of Lana Lang [[spoiler: inhabited by the spirit of the ComicBook/LexLuthor {{Expy}}]], in the late 90s, she briefly recognises him as her old friend Ethan Crane, but then assumes he must be Ethan Crane's son since Ethan couldn't possibly look the same as he did decades ago. For the rest of the series he goes by the name "Ethan Crane Jr.", [[ThrowItIn posing as his own son]]. It's helped by the fact that Supreme, and therefore "Ethan Crane Sr." disappeared into space in the late 60s, and only returned over twenty years later.

* Rin from ''{{Mnemosyne}}'' uses this during a visit to an old acquaintance from WWII when the latter recognizes her.