History Main / WhosYourDaddy

* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds2019'':
** [[spoiler:Chloe]] was unsure initially of who fathered her son, because she had slept with a lot of boys and also been raped around the same time. After his birth, she realized her rapist was the father as they had the same eyes.
** Sarah tells Bill that Emily isn't Jonathan's biological child due to her cheating. Though he still loved her the same, he's never entirely forgiven Sarah.

* This has fairly major significance in the backstory of the fantasy novel ''Song in the Silence''. The debate is not the heroine's, but her mother's -- since one of her lovers [[spoiler:promised his first-born child to demons in exchange for a powerful magical artifact]]. The heroine decides not to go GeneHunting, since she knows which of the men ''she'' thinks of as her father, and nothing else matters to her. [[spoiler:Of course, the one who sold her soul is her biological father. Things just never work out well for fantasy heroes, do they?]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderWoman'': Jessica Drew has yet to reveal who the father of her newborn son is; the only certainty is that it isn't [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] (he was the only one who asked, and her reply was to dump a plate of food on him; clearly she has a reason to keep it secret).

* Has fairly major significance in the backstory of the fantasy novel ''Song in the Silence''. The debate is not the heroine's, but her mother's -- since one of her lovers [[spoiler:promised his first-born child to demons in exchange for a powerful magical artifact]]. The heroine decides not to go GeneHunting, since she knows which of the men ''she'' thinks of as her father, and nothing else matters to her. [[spoiler:Of course, the one who sold her soul is her biological father. Things just never work out well for fantasy heroes, do they?]]
* In the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' novel ''Lost in a Good Book'', Thursday finds herself pregnant after the Chronoguard disrupts her personal timeline and worries that Miles Hawke, a man whose relationship with her is obscured by her RippleEffectProofMemory, may be the father instead of her {{Retgone}} husband Landen. The situation is resolved when Thursday learns that the relationship with Miles that she doesn't remember involves helping him [[TheBeard conceal his secret relationship with her brother Joffy]].

* Occurs several times in ''Series/CallTheMidwife''.

** In Series 2, Trixie and Sister Evangelina are called to deliver a baby on a Swedish cargo ship. They're confused at first because women aren't allowed on cargo ships. The expectant mother explains that her father is the captain, who brought her on board after her mother died… and pimped her out to the crew. All the sailors stand outside the cabin door while the baby is born and sing to their possible daughter when they hear her crying, but in the end the mother decides to abandon ship and give her daughter a proper life.

* In the 1979 filmatisation of ''Film/{{Hair}}'', a major (and never resolved) mystery is who got Jeanie pregnant: Hud or Woof?
** In the finale (Let the Sun Shine In), Jeanie and Woof are cradling the baby but it is never stated.

* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds2019'': [[spoiler:Chloe]] was unsure initially of who fathered her son, because she had slept with a lot of boys and also been raped around the same time. After his birth, she realized her rapist was the father as they had the same eyes.

->''"Sophie's dad: remember how I said it was Sam? Sam the architect, who had to go home to get married? I'm not sure that it was him, because there were two other guys around the same time...?"''

* A big part of the plot during season 8 of ''Series/TheXFiles''. Though, being a paranormal show, and with Scully not actually supposed to be able to have children, it was both this and a 'How the heck did this happen?' [[spoiler: It was later revealed that the Smoking Man [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate had artificially inseminated with his sperm]].]]

* A big part of the plot during season 8 of ''Series/TheXFiles''. Though, being a paranormal show, and with Scully not actually supposed to be able to have children, it was both this and a 'How the heck did this happen?' [[spoiler: It was later revealed that the Smoking Man [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate had artificially inseminated with his sperm]].

* ''Series/AlmostFamily'': [[spoiler: Julia]] learns she isn't biologically related to her father due to her deceased mother's affair, and sets out to find her birth father.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sun had an affair before coming to the island, and had been told Jin was infertile. Thus Sun is not certain Jin is her baby's father until a sonogram in "D.O.C." shows the baby was conceived on-island (and Juliet reveals the island increases sperm count.) The issue ''seems'' to be settled, but some fans suspect Michael may actually be the father.
** But in the episode "Ji Yeon", [[spoiler: Sun gives birth to a baby girl that is completely Korean looking -- not a lick of mixed racial heritage in her.]]

* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. Was Susannah's baby from Eddie, or that [[HornyDevils incubus]] who raped her? [[spoiler: It was the incubus, say sorry.]]

* The BigBad of [[JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Part 5]] of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' is an inversion. His mother was [[spoiler:an inmate at an all female prison with all female guards, and she'd already been there for two years when she gave birth. Not only that, but the pregnancy itself was unusually long]]. There are basically no possible paternity candidates at all.

* ''Series/TheFive'': It turns out that Jesse was really fathered by Frank, a neighbor whom his mother had an affair with. She suspected he might be the father, but insisted otherwise to Frank. It's eventually revealed that he was Jesse's birth father.

* A big part of the plot during season 8 of ''Series/TheXFiles''. Though, being a paranormal show, and with Scully not actually supposed to be able to have children, it was both this and a 'How the heck did this happen?'

->'''"Sophie's dad: remember how I said it was Sam? Sam the architect, who had to go home to get married? I'm not sure that it was him, because there were two other guys around the same time...?"''
-->--'''Donna Sheridan''', ''Film/MammaMia''

* In ''Film/{{Mamma Mia}}'', Donna Sheridan had quick affairs with three different men, all of whom might be the father of her child, Sophie. When they get together for Sophie's wedding, they each agree to be 1/3 a father to her.

* ''Theatre/MammaMia'', in which there are three prospective men who could be Sophie's father… and all three are invited to her wedding.
** And HilarityEnsues!
*** [[spoiler:WordOfGod says Bill was, and in TheMovie they resemble each other the most.]]

** One particularly {{egregious}} example: on ''Series/OneLifeToLive'', Nora intentionally got pregnant by Sam and pretended the baby, Matthew, was Bo's son. Then everyone found out he was Sam's son. Then it turned out he was really Bo's son. Then it turned out he was really Sam's son. Then it turned out he was really Bo's son. Sam is now dead, so the volley is probably over.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Web Comic]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' it's never explicitly stated who Emily's father is (or why he's absent), but it is heavily hinted it is [[spoiler:Corvo. Too bad we [[SilentProtagonist won't get confirmation from the man himself]].]]

%%* ''Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell''

* The BigBad of [[JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Part 5]] of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'' is an inversion. His mother was [[spoiler:an inmate at an all female prison with all female guards, and she'd already been there for two years when she gave birth. Not only that, but the pregnancy itself was unusually long]]. There are basically no possible paternity candidates at all.

* Jotaro in ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo''.
* The issue of paternity shows up in ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' story "The Baby Smurf", despite the fact that the child came by DeliveryStork.
* [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Jessica Drew]] has yet to reveal who the father of her newborn son is; the only certainty, is that it isn't [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] (he was the only one who asked, and her reply was to dump a plate of food on him; clearly she has a reason to keep it secret.)

[[folder:Films]]
* The movie ''Film/FathersDay1997''.
* In ''Film/LocalHero'', the protagonist asks a gang of punks whose baby is with them (the mother being the one female punk in town). They just look at each other.
* ''Film/TheMiracleOfMorgansCreek'' is an odd example: She bumps her head at a farewell party for draftees, gets married and pregnant in her [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything temporarily poor judgment]], and then never remembers who her husband is.
* In the 1979 filmatisation of ''Film/{{Hair}}'', a major (and never resolved) mystery is who got Jeanie pregnant: Hud or Woof?
* ''Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell''
* The Creator/TinaFey movie ''Film/BabyMama'' has rare example of ''who's your mommy'' thanks to IVF.
* Done very dramatically in ''Film/RobRoy'', where Mary is uncertain if her baby's father is her husband, the titular character… or his mortal enemy, her rapist Cunningham.
* ''[[Literature/BridgetJones Bridget Jones's Baby]]'' centers on this trope.

* Has fairly major significance in the backstory of the fantasy novel ''Song in the Silence''. The debate is not the heroine's, but her mother's -- since one of her lovers [[spoiler:promised his first-born child to demons in exchange for a powerful magical artifact]]. The heroine decides not to go GeneHunting, since she knows which of the men ''she'' thinks of as her father, and nothing else matters to her. [[spoiler:Of course, the one who sold her soul is her biological father. Things just never work out well for fantasy heroes, do they?]]
* Bree's pregnancy in the later ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' books is a major issue, since she lost her virginity to her caring, gentle lover Roger, and was raped by SmugSnake Stephen Bonnet in roughly the same period of time. Indirectly, Jamie's ''other'' child, William, has the paternity quandary as well.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Maury}}'' once had varied topics. Nowadays, the show mostly deals with ''nothing'' but women giving men paternity tests. Sometimes, one woman will take up the entire show testing seven or eight men, find out it's none of them, and ''return another day''.
* Blair on ''Series/GossipGirl'' nearly had one of these in S1 (turned out to be a false alarm) and then does have one in S5. [[spoiler: [[ConvenientMiscarriage not that it lasts]]]]
* The ''Jeremy Kyle Show'' does this a lot with DNA tests. "And the test reveals that John… ''(thirty second pause)'' …'''is''' the father of Jean's baby!"
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sun had an affair before coming to the island, and had been told Jin was infertile. Thus Sun is not certain Jin is her baby's father until a sonogram in "D.O.C." shows the baby was conceived on-island (and Juliet reveals the island increases sperm count.) The issue ''seems'' to be settled, but some fans suspect Michael may actually be the father.
** But in the episode "Ji Yeon", [[spoiler: Sun gives birth to a baby girl that is completely Korean looking -- not a lick of mixed racial heritage in her.]]
* Sue Ellen became pregnant on ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' after an affair with Cliff Barnes. Turned out the baby was indeed JR's. And they did it ''again'' years later when Cliff bumped into old girlfriend Afton and her daughter. Despite Cliff's hopes, this child too turned out to be someone elses daughter.
* On ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'', there were two candidates for the father of Anne's son: her ex-husband George and her new boyfriend David. David had been told he was sterile, but George had gotten a vasectomy years earlier, so everyone assumed that David was, in fact, ''not'' sterile and the father. Then George confessed that he had lied about getting a vasectomy. This led David to conclude that George was the father. David [[PutOnABus broke up with Anne and left]] and that was that. We [[spoiler: are initially led to believe that George is the father, but we later find out it's David.]]
* ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'' did a rather convoluted plotline where the mother of the child had a serious relationship with the guy who ''wasn't'' the father, but he was the only one who knew that he wasn't the father. Then the mother died and left him the baby, and he got together with the dead mother's sister (I know, c'est la {{squick}}) and their relationship ended horribly. So then they had a big custody war over the baby because of the complicatedness.

* ''Series/NipTuck'' has this with [[spoiler:Julia]] and the paternity of [[spoiler:Matt]]. After finding out that [[spoiler:Christian]] is his father, due to a one night stand before [[spoiler:Julia's]] wedding to [[spoiler:Sean]], she hides it from her husband. She reveals it to her son's father, her son, and her husband (in that order) causing her husband to kick her out. Her husband doesn't treat her son any differently and eventually forgives both his wife and his son's father for the affair.
* The central concept of ''Series/MyTwoDads''--the mother died without knowing who the father was, and a judge ruled both potential fathers had to raise the daughter together. HilarityEnsues.
* Another central concept of the trope--the Creator/{{Fox}} reality show ''Who's Your Daddy?''. A person who had been adopted as an infant must pick out his or her biological father out of a group of 25 men. It gained a lot of controversy and massive backlash and was pulled off the air after only one episode. The remaining 5 episodes aired on their reality cable channel.
* A big part of the plot during season 8 of ''Series/TheXFiles''. Though, being a paranormal show, and with Scully not actually supposed to be able to have children, it was both this and a 'How the heck did this happen?'
* A subplot in ''Series/OhDoctorBeeching'', involved a new station master at a rural English train station finding an old flame running the canteen. She has a daughter who could be the new station master's, and it turns out that the mother was seeing both her husband and the station master at the same time. The paternity was never disclosed, but was hinted to be [[spoiler:her husband after all]].
* On ''Series/PeepShow'' there were at least three candidates for the father of Sophie's baby--Mark, Jeremy, and Jeff. Mark has claimed fatherhood on the basis of Sophie telling him DNA tests have revealed it is his.
* Shows up in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' of all places. Dean meets an old flame who has a son who acts and looks like a mini-Dean and was born roughly nine months after they were together. The woman assures him that the son is not his and the real father left them shortly after her son was born. Some fans, however, [[WildMassGuessing theorize]] that she was lying, although this possibility is never addressed in-show. Dean eventually [[spoiler: settles down with them after Sam's death, but leaves when Sam comes back and winds up having Cas erase their memories of him to protect them.]]

* Occurs several times in ''Series/CallTheMidwife''.
** In Series 1, the nurses encounter an older couple with a very involved father and a very detached mother. The baby is a ChocolateBaby, but the father calls him "the most beautiful baby in the world" and names him Edward Jr.
** In Series 2, Trixie and Sister Evangelina are called to deliver a baby on a Swedish cargo ship. They're confused at first because women aren't allowed on cargo ships. The expectant mother explains that her father is the captain, who brought her on board after her mother died… and pimped her out to the crew. All the sailors stand outside the cabin door while the baby is born and sing to their possible daughter when they hear her crying, but in the end the mother decides to abandon ship and give her daughter a proper life.
** In Series 3, a married woman asks for help secretly giving her baby up for adoption because it's not her husband's. Sister Julienne suggests that it would be kinder to let the husband raise the baby as his own, but the mother confesses the biological father was black. When the husband sees the little girl, he threatens to murder her, forcing Nurse Leigh to drag her from her mother's arms for her own safety.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Played with. Erica doesn't know which of two men got her pregnant. The father is either a golden boy or an imprisoned murderer. It's resolved when she confides the details of her two relationships to Monica and Monica realises that Erica's sex education must be severely lacking; what she did with the prisoner could never have gotten her pregnant.

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'': When Clare finds out she's pregnant, she figures the father is Drew, a one night stand, because he was the last guy she slept with. A few weeks later at her ultrasound, she finds out she's further along than she thought, meaning the father is actually her ex-boyfriend Eli.
* In the ''LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek'' (of course) ''The Secret She Carried'', a woman is raped and later finds out she's pregnant, but is uncertain if her husband or the rapist is the father. Adding to the drama is that by the time the pregnancy is advanced enough for her to do a paternity test, it will be too late for an abortion should the rapist be the father. As it turns out, her husband is the father after all, but in true ''{{Creator/Lifetime}}'' style, it doesn't stop the rapist from believing otherwise and promptly stalking and terrorizing her in an effort to claim "his" child.
* ''Series/TheAffair'': Noah and Alison's affair eventually results in her becoming pregnant again. However, she also had sex once with her ex-husband Cole at the approximate time of conception, so isn't sure about the parentage for a while and keeps this from Noah. [[spoiler:Later it is confirmed to be Cole's child through DNA tests taken during the trial.]]
* ''Series/Sense8'': Amanita's biological father isn't known, but all three possible guys love her anyway as her dad.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* When Anna finds out that she is pregnant in ''ComicStrip/NorthernOverexposure'', she has no idea who the father is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]

* In ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive,'' [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Davan]] goes back home and has a one-night stand with an old friend named Donna. When he moves back home a few years later, Donna has a young son, Rory, and admits that she doesn't know for sure if the father is Davan or the guy she dated after their fling. A DaddyDNATest shows that Davan [[spoiler:isn't the father. He becomes Rory's ParentalSubstitute anyway, though]].

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "The Kidney Stays in the Picture," it's revealed that [[spoiler: Stan may not be Hayley's father. The truth is never discovered or revealed, but Stan chooses to believe she's his, regardless.]]

* ''Series/TheAffair'': Noah and Alison's affair eventually results in her becoming pregnant again. However, she also had sex once with her ex-husband Cole at the approximate time of conception, so isn't sure about the parentage for a while and keeps this from Noah. [[spoiler:Later confirmed to be Cole's child through DNA tests taken during the trial.]]

** One particularly {{egregious}} example: on ''OneLifeToLive'', Nora intentionally got pregnant by Sam and pretended the baby, Matthew, was Bo's son. Then everyone found out he was Sam's son. Then it turned out he was really Bo's son. Then it turned out he was really Sam's son. Then it turned out he was really Bo's son. Sam is now dead, so the volley is probably over.