History Main / DaddyDNATest

Works made prior to the invention of DNA testing may have a more primitive version of this in the form of blood tests for paternity, which could eliminate candidates under certain conditions. For example, if a type O mom had a type A baby, then a type B man cannot be the father. See a full listing of impossible blood type combinations [[https://www.britannica.com/science/blood-group/Paternity-testing here]].

* In ''Fanfic/UnexpectedSurprise'', Gabriel sees Marinette with a young looking exactly like his long dead wife, so he secretly runs a DNA test to check if the girl might be Adrien's daughter. When he finds that she is, he rewrites his will accordingly.

* In ''Fanfic/UnexpectedSurprise'', Gabriel sees Marinette with a girl looking exactly like his long dead wife, so he secretly runs a DNA test to check if she might be Adrien's daughter. When he finds she is, he rewrites his will accordingly.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Maury}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maurydaddy.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"That baby don't look nothing like me!"]]

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing: Endless Waltz'', Mariemaia claims that Treize being her father has been confirmed through DNA testing. We never actually see the results of the test though, and there is considerable doubt on Mariemaia's parentage all the same. [[spoiler: She is later adopted by Lady Une, who was Treize's then-current girlfriend in the series proper, until Wufei killed him in the final episode.]]

* DNA testing done on a validated sample preserved from Eva Braun [[note]]She left some hair behind in hairbrushes liberated from Berchtesgarten by an American GI; the GI's girlfriend was less than enthralled with the gift and left them in an attic in a sealed bag for sixty years[[/note]] demonstrated that a lot of her matrilinear DNA was identical to that of central European Jews. Mrs Adolf Hitler had at least one ancestor who had married out of the Yiddish community and assimilated as German, but so long ago that this was not remembered in her family and would not have been detected by any background checks done by the Nazi Party -- if any, in her case.

* In ''Fanfic/GiveInGiveInAndRelishEveryMinuteOfIt'', Frollo finds out he fathered a son from a {{one night stand|Pregnancy}} fifteen years ago. His son, Quasimodo, comes to live with him after his mother and step-father are killed. To make sure that Quasimodo is his son, he does a DNA test.
* Ruby and Yang learn in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21775756/chapters/51958075 Who Needs Genetics When We Have Family?]]'' that their father Taiyang was in a relationship with [[{{Polyamory}} both their mother Summer and uncle Qrow]]. However, it's unclear which sired Ruby, because Ruby only takes after Summer. Ruby's parents decided to wait until adulthood to get a DNA test. Depending on who's Ruby's biological father, Ruby and Yang are half-sisters or cousins. The story ends [[spoiler:[[TheUnreveal not revealing]] the results]] to the reader]].

* A staple of [[SoapOpera soap operas]]. Count on someone to conceal and/or falsify the results.

* A staple of Soap Operas. Count on someone to conceal and/or falsify the results.

* Ruby and Yang learn in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21775756/chapters/51958075 Who Needs Genetics When We Have Family?]]'' that their father Taiyang was in a relationship with [[{{Polyamory}} both their mother Summer and uncle Qrow]]. However, it's unclear which sired Ruby, because Ruby only takes after Summer. Ruby's parents decided to wait until adulthood to get a DNA test.

* Warrick got one on ''Series/{{CSI}}'' just before his death, as part of his attempt to gain custody of his infant son. His colleagues only discover this when they find the test results while retrieving clothes to bury him in.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' a woman appears who thinks Clark is her son and demands a DNA test. Clark gets his SecretKeeper Pete to donate a DNA sample after breaking into the lab, so the results won't reveal that Cark isn't human.

* Not DNA, but Ward's Science markets a prepackaged blood-typing simulation kit that's specifically designed so that it can be staged as this trope for a lesson. Three of the four simulated-blood samples to be tested are labeled with men's names, while the fourth is "Ms. Brown". As "Ms. Brown" tests as O- and the "men" all have different ABO blood types, lab instructors can tell students that they need to determine which of the guys in Ms. Brown's life could have fathered her B+ baby and narrow it down to one option.

* In ''Fanfic/GiveInGiveInAndRelishEveryMinuteOfIt''', Frollo finds out he fathered a son from a {{one night stand|Pregnancy}} fifteen years ago. His son, Quasimodo, comes to live with him after his mother and step-father are killed. To make sure that Quasimodo is his son, he does a DNA test.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* Done in ''Film/{{Elf}}'' to confirm that Buddy is Walter's son.
* The SoBadItsGood movie ''Une chance sur deux'' (Half a Chance): Alice gets a DNA test to find out who her real father is [[spoiler: but she likes the two possible dads so much that she throws away the results.]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Used to establish that [[spoiler: Christian is the father of Matt]] in ''Series/NipTuck''.
* Series/{{House}} gets a DNA test after his father's funeral, proving that they're not related. Given that they had an extremely tempestuous relationship House is relieved to find this out.
** Amusingly enough, the man House presumed to be his biological father also wasn't. Meaning his mother had [[ReallyGetsAround ''at least'' one more affair.]]
** One episode revolves around House going to great lengths to prove that his patient's father is not the real father and gets both the parents tested. [[spoiler: Turns out both aren't his biological parents and he's adopted.]]
** House also performs a paternity test on one of his 'friends' and his current patient, who told him she's his estranged daughter from an old fling. [[spoiler: House tells the kid that his friend ''is'' her father, but the test result House gets later on turns out to be negative.]]

* Warrick got one on ''{{Series/CSI}}'' just before his death, as part of his attempt to gain custody of his infant son. His colleagues only discover this when they find the test results while retrieving clothes to bury him in.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:WebComic]]
* ''WebComic/BatmanAndSons'' mentions that Bruce is taking care of baby Terry, but not baby Damien, because [[spoiler: Catwoman]] thought to do a DNA test before handing over her kid, whereas Talia keeps Damian to herself and just keeps sending him bills.
* In ''WebComic/SomethingPositive'', [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Davan]] has SexForSolace with the ex-girlfriend of his friend who recently committed suicide. Years later, the two meet up again and Davan finds out she had a son named [[BrattyHalfPint Rory]], whose father is either Davan or the man she dated shortly after their tryst. The test shows that Davan isn't the father, but LawOfInversePaternity kicks in and he becomes Rory's ParentalSubstitute anyway.
* A [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=272 Victorian version]] on ''WebComic/HarkAVagrant''. (Fourth down)

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "The Story of Lando Freeman", Robert Freeman goes on ''Series/TheSteveWilkosShow'', where a DNA test reveals that [[spoiler:the titular Lando is his long-lost son… but this is subverted by the reveal that they lied about the test results on camera, only putting a disclaimer in the credits. Lando's real father is Creator/BillyDeeWilliams.]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Eric Cartman had no idea who his father was. Neither did his mother considering the number of possible candidates so a blood test was taken. It was then revealed his father was [[spoiler:his "mother", who was actually a hermaphrodite who had a penis (much to the disgust of the men who only learned when Dr. Mephisto brought it up) and impregnated some woman. Cartman briefly asked who his real mother was, much to the horror of the men who believed they could have been his Dad, but, once Ms. Crabtree the school bus driver, Principal Victoria and the Mayor of South Park were introduced as options, Cartman decided he didn't want to know.]]
** Of course many many seasons later it was revealed that [[spoiler: The whole thing was a ruse, Cartman's mother is actually biologically female, and Cartman's father is Scott Tenorman's father, who Cartman had killed and tricked Scott into eating in a bowl of chili. The reason they hid the truth was because Tenorman was a member of the Denver Broncos and the townspeople didn't want to ruin the team's good season by distracting them with an illegitimate child scandal]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' Kif's BizarreAlienBiology means that when he's "receptive" he can be [[MisterSeahorse impregnated]] by anyone he makes skin-to-skin contact with. Necessitating the use of the Professor's "maternifuge" to determine who the DNA donor was. It was Leela, but by Kif's cultural norms his girlfriend Amy is still considered the "mother" as she triggered his receptive phase, the only reason they bothered with the test was to make sure it wasn't [[GeneralFailure Zapp Brannigan]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', [[spoiler: 18-year-old Hollyhock claims to be Bojack's long-lost daughter, and they are a DNA match. This trope ends up being subverted in the end of the season when it's revealed that she's his ''sister'', not his daughter, resulting from an affair his father had with the maid.]]

* DNA testing done on a validated sample preserved from Eva Braun [[note]]She left some hair behind in hairbrushes liberated from Berchtesgarten by an American GI; the GI's girlfriend was less than enthralled with the gift and left them in an attic in a sealed bag for sixty years[[/note]] demonstrated that a lot of her matrilinear DNA was identical to that of central European Jews. Mrs Adolf Hitler had at least one ancestor who had married out of the Yiddish community and assimilated as German, but so long ago that this was not remembered in her family and would not have been detected by any background checks done by the Nazi Party - if any, in her case.

* DNA testing done on a validated sample preserved from Eva Braun [[note]]She left some hair behind in a hairbrush liberated from Berchtesgarten by an American GI; the GI's girlfriend was less than enthralled with the gift and left them in an attic in a sealed bag for sixty years[[/note]] demonstrated that a lot of her matrilinear DNA was identical to that of central European Jews. Mrs Adolf Hitler had at least one ancestor who had married out of the Yiddish community and assimilated as German, but so long ago that this was not remembered in her family and would not have been detected by any background checks done by the Nazi Party - if any, in her case.

* In ''Creator/MaeveBinchy'''s Minding Frankie, the hero tests if he really is the father of the eponymous Frankie. [[spoiler:He finds out he is not, then decides the DNA result does not matter, he is her father in [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments every way that matters.]]]]

* These days every other episode of ''Series/{{Maury}}''.
** Led to a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} when a young mother brought no fewer than a half dozen possible fathers onto the show for testing. After a long drawn-out process of discussing her lifestyle and her complicated parenting situation, the results come back and… '''none''' of them are the father! Like a pack of hounds, all the tested would-be fathers round shouting at the girl. ''"There's even more?!"''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', [[MadScientist Dr. Sevarius]] does a DNA test on [[AffirmativeActionGirl Angela]] (against her will) and happens to discover that [[TheHero Goliath]] is her biological father. This shocks her and winds up causing some drama, since Goliath follows the gargoyle tradition where biological relationships aren't important.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Eric Cartman had no idea who his father was. Neither did his mother considering the number of possible candidates so a blood test was taken. It was then revealed his father was [[spoiler:his "mother", who was actually a hermaphrodite who had a penis (much to the disgust of the men who only learned when Dr. Mephisto brought it up) and impregnated some woman. Cartman briefly asked who his real mother was, much to the horror of the men who believed they could have been his Dad, but, once Ms. Crabtree the school bus driver, Principal Victoria and the Mayor of South Park were introduced as options, Cartman decided he didn't want to know.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' Kif's BizarreAlienBiology means that when he's "receptive" he can be [[MisterSeahorse impregnated]] by anyone he makes skin-to-skin contact with. Necessitating the use of the Professor's "maternifuge" to determine who the DNA donor was. It was Leela, but by Kif's cultural norms his girlfriend Amy is still considered the "mother" as she triggered his receptive phase, the only reason they bothered with the test was to make sure it wasn't [[GeneralFailure Zapp Brannigan]].