History Main / FamousAncestor

* In ''Manga/TwilightStarSuiAndNeri'', the residents of Tetsunagi Island are revealed to be the descendants of their ancestors who originated from a research lab, comprising of a union between [[CivilizedAnimal sentient animals]] and human researchers, before setting foot into the island despite the losses they incurred during the expedition.

* Creator/JRRTolkien was descended from none other than the Hohenzollerns, the very same royal family that ruled UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany. Apocryphally, Bilbo's ancestor Bullroarer in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' is based on Tolkien's own ancestor George von Hohenzollern, who fought in the Siege of Vienna.

* Creator/KatharineHepburn, who played UsefulNotes/EleanorOfAquitaine in ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'', actually is descended from Eleanor...from ''both'' of Eleanor's marriages.

* In the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo game ''VideoGame/NinjaCommando'', Ryu Eagle claims to be UsefulNotes/FuumaKotaro the 32nd.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}: Some comics state that Bruce Wayne is a descendant of Revolutionary War general 'Mad' Anthony Wayne. (This is also a DevelopmentGag as Batman's surname was inspired by 'Mad' Anthony Wayne.)
* In ''ComicBook/{{Crimson}}'', modern-day [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar Knight Templar]] Barnebeau D'Orense claims to be a direct descendant of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux St. Bernard of Clairvaux]], the PatronSaint of the Templars. [[ArtisticLicenseHistory Given that Bernard was a notoriously celibate monk and unlikely to have fathered any children]], the only logical explanation is that D'Orense descends from one of his unrecorded nieces[=/=]nephews, rather than any direct offspring.

** In ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman: Shadow of the Bat]]'' Annual #4, King Bruce the 23rd of Nu-Gotham is a descendant of Bruce Wayne.
** In the ''[[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner: Warrior]]'' Annual #2 story "Hypersensitive: A Changer for All Seasons", the [[VoluntaryShapeshifter changer]] Stonewall Fencer, a resident of Gardner's Green, claims to be one of Guy's descendants but the postal officer Garland Marsh is less than convinced.
** In the ''[[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner: Warrior]]'' Annual #2 story "See My Finger. See My Thumb. See My Fist? You Better Run!", Guy [[FreakyFridayFlip switches bodies]] with a young boy named Gunner Gardner, seemingly one of his descendants, in the town of Alphalphaville on the planet Arkayo in the far future. While there, he meets Gunner's friends Bucky, Risa and an unnamed Tiger-Boy, apparently the descendants of Bucky Wargo, Arisia Rrab and Tiger-Man II.
** In the ''[[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner: Warrior]]'' Annual #2 story "Dateless in a One Gender Town", half-sisters Manzo, Crocker and Buxton Gardner, otherwise known as the Gardner Gals, travel to the [[LadyLand one gender town]] of Steinheim on the planet Prozack to recover a family heirloom belonging to their ancestor Guy. It was stolen by Lizzie Jordan, a descendant of Hal Jordan. While there, they meet Annie Wargo, a descendant of Bucky.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''Franchise/XMen'': Colossus, a.k.a. Piotr Rasputin, is a direct descendant of the infamous Grigori Rasputin. Piotr doesn't claim kinship with any pride.

%%** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredSTones The Sacred Stones]]''

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Elros Tar-Minyatur, elrond's brother, was the fist king of Numenor. And despite the Numenorians' hatred for Elves, he is fondly remembered by his own descendants, such as Ar-Pharazôn. His own son, Kemen, Queen Miriel, Elendil and his three children, Anárion, Isildur and Eärien, all trace their ancestry back to Elros.

* Creator/KatharineHepburn, who played UsefulNotes/EleanorofAquitaine in ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'', actually is descended from Eleanor...from ''both'' of Eleanor's marriages.

* ''Series/TheKingLoves'': Won's mother is Kublai Khan's daughter, making him the great-great-grandson of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan.
her classmates are impressed as they have no idea who Juárez is.

** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Binding Blade]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'' have many of the royalty and nobles of the continent descended from the legendary generals of the human dragon/war. Protagonists, Eliwood, Hector, and Roy are specifically all descendants of Roland.

* Each of the main characters from ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans'' is descended from a different Greek hero: Jason, Odysseus, Atalanta, Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, and Narcissus. One episode also introduces a descendant of Medea, who gets brainwashed into going after Jason's descendant.

** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar ''Genealogy of the Holy War'']] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 ''Thracia 776'']] have all the nobles descended from the twelve crusades who received SuperhumanTransfusion from Dragons.
** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade ''Binding Blade'']] and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade ''Blazing Blade'']] have many of the royalty and nobles of the continent descended from the legendary generals of the human dragon/war. Protagonists, Eliwood, Hector, and Roy are specifically all descendants of Roland.
** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredSTones ''Sacred Stones'']]

* ''Fanfic/AMothToAFlame'': Marcy has a JawDrop moment when The Core reveals she's a direct descendant of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Wu_of_Chu King Wu]] from ImperialChina.

* UsefulNotes/BarackObama [[{{Irony}} is said to be a distant cousin of]] [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar CSA president]] UsefulNotes/JeffersonDavis.
** Even more ironic, he's believed to have descended from a man named John Punch, said to be the first documented African slave in Colonial America.

* The Queen of England and the rest of the current British royal family is descended from UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad (via Arab kings of Spain).
** Also, in 2011, Prince Charles publicly claimed that heredity proves that he is a descendant of UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler, the Romanian tyrant who was the inspiration for {{Dracula}}. The claim accompanied his announcement of a pledge to help conserve the forested areas of Transylvania.

* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' is a descendant of Edward A. Murphy Jr., the man who MurphysLaw was named after. In the show, said law is a HereditaryCurse that has given Murphy and all of his male descendants [[BornUnlucky ridiculously bad luck]].

* Each of the main characters from ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans'' is descended from a different Greek hero: Jason, Odysseus, Atalanta, Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, and Narcissus. One episode also introduces a descendant of Medea, who gets brainwashed into going after Jason's descendant.

* ''Series/CaliforniaDreams'': In "Family Tree", Lorena discovers that she is descended from Benito Juárez, who served as President of Mexico from 1858 to 1872, after researching her family tree for a school project. None of * On ''Series/{{CSI}}'', Doc Robbins' wife looked into his family tree in 'Genetic Disorder' and there's a snippet at the end where he finds he's distantly related to Buffalo Bill Cody.