History Main / FamousAncestor

* Played for humor in ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'' as Mr L. Prosser (the man who wants to build a bypass through Arthur's home) is revealed as a direct male line descendant of Genghis Khan but the blood only shows up as predilection for little fur hats, a preference for axes over the door, and the occasional visions of screaming Mongol.

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* Marjane Satrapi, author of ''Persepolis'', is a descendant of Nasser al-Din Shah, Shah of Person from 1848 to 1896. She herself puts it down, noting that kings of that time period had hundreds of wives and thousands of children, so there were plenty of others with similar claims.

* There is a scientist fellow who claims that 0.5% of the world's males have a genetic lineage traceable to Genghis Khan, or his close male relatives.

* ''WynonnaEarp'' is the great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp.

* In ''The Kindachi Case Files'', Kindaichi is the grandson of Kosuki Kindaichi. Kindaichi's grandfather taught him everything he knows about solving mysteries, pickpocketing, and slight-of-hand tricks, but most people are incredulous when they learn about the familial connection. (Primarily because of how lazy Kindaichi is)

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Octavian happily uses this on ''{{Rome}}''. Even though the father he speaks so highly of was actually his great-uncle, and Octavian found out he was adopted when he read Caesar's will.
** Brutus also has a FamousAncestor, being descendant from the man who rid Rome of its last king. His mother and the men who conspire to kill Caesar often bring it up.
* Spock of ''StarTrek'' fame claims descent from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle through his human mother, Amanda Grayson.
** And [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Miles O'Brien]] claims descent from the legendary Irish king Brian Boru. This is at least justified, as Boru is traditionally believed to have founded the O'Brien clan.
* On ''TheWestWing'', Pres. Josiah Bartlett is supposed to be descended from the delegate to the Constitutional Convention of the same name.
* In an episode of ''LizzieMcGuire'', Matt pretends for a school report that their family in descended from, among others, ElvisPresley and Davy Crockett. Leads to AnAesop about lying.
* Rose, on ''TheGoldenGirls'', believed for years that BobHope was her biological father.
* Played twice in ''{{Bones}}''; Agent Seely Booth is distantly related to John Wilkes Booth, and isn't too proud about it, while Angela Montenegro's father is Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Her full name is Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro, "Pearly Gates" being [[ICallItVera what Gibbons named his guitar]].
** Booth's ancestry is brought up in the episode where they were trying to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald really did act alone. Booth, being an Army Ranger sniper, manages to perfectly copy Oswald's shots with a replica of the assassin's rifle.

** Also from DCComics, Zatanna The Magician is descended from LeonardoDaVinci.

* All the magicians in the Charlie Bone series are descendants of the Red King, from whom they get their powers.

* It turns out in {{The Dresden Files}} that all the Knights of the Cross we've met so far are descended from royalty - Shiro from the last king of Okinawa, Sanya from Saladin and Michael from Charlemagne.

* The Bond family's coat of Arms ''TheWorldIsNotEnough'' from the JamesBond Novel OnHerMajestysSecretService is the same as [[RealLife Real Life's]] Sir Thomas Bond's. The relation is implied but never outright stated.
* Sun Jian from RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms, along with his children, all claim descent from [[TheArtOfWarfare Sun Tzu]]
* ''{{RedDwarf}}'' book ''Last Human'' has an inversion: Rimmer's one-night stand with Yvonne [=McGruder=] led to [[spoiler:Michael [=McGruder=]'s birth. To spare her embarrassment, she tells Michael that Rimmer was a magnificent hero of a man (an idea reinforced by the fact that he was the only crewman resurrected as a hologram). Michael tries to emulate his father's made-up achievements and becomes one of the best officers of the Space Corps, freezing himself in time so he can meet up with his heroic father. Needless to say that when they meet, he isn't pleased.]]
* In the first book of the PrydainChronicles, Eilonwy (who turns out to be ''Princess'' Eilonwy) happens to mention that hers are the people of Llyr Half-Speech, the Sea King. In later books she self-identifies as "Eilonwy daughter of Angharad daughter of Regat of the house of Llyr." This is a bit of a subversion of the trope, however, because in Prydain it's perfectly normal to introduce yourself as 'son of' or 'daughter of.'

* The protagonist of J.C. Hutchins' novel Personal Effects: Dark Art, Zach Taylor, is a many times great-grandson of U.S. President Zachary Taylor.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* In ''SkyHigh'', the main character has two very famous superheroes as his parents. It appears to be a subversion of this trope, until [[spoiler:he gains loads of powers.]] The busdriver is a true subversion.
* In the extremely forgettable 1989 DTV skiffy movie ''Arena'', Steve Armstrong plays a short-order cook attempting to win the intergalactic boxing championship; it's mentioned briefly that he's a direct descendant of Neil Armstrong.

* The sole claim to fame of the protagonist of the original DragonQuest is that he's the descendant of the legendary hero Loto/Roto/Erdrick/[[EverythingsBetterWithBob Bob]]. The protagonists of the sequel are royalty- because they are the descendants of the ''descendant'' of aforementioned legendary hero. In the third game, you ''play'' as said legendary hero, whose claim to fame in his home-world was being the son of ''another'' legendary hero.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* The ''LegendOfTheFiveRings'' game relies heavily on this. Each character can roll on heritage tables at character creation, which essentially gives the PC randomly selected bonuses or penalties based on who his ancestors were. Some of the magic calls upon ancestors, including one high-level spell that summons an ancestor to ''scold your enemies into submission''. Finally, one of the Disadvantages is "Haunted", which means that one of the PC's ancestors dislikes him and occasionally shows up in ghostly form to heckle him during the roleplaying session.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', most of the trolls have these. There's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, Orphaner Dualscar, the Grand Highblood, Neophyte Redglare, the Sufferer, Expatriate Darkleer, the Summoner, Her Imperious Condescension, The Ψiioniic, The Disciple, The Dolorosa and The Handmaid. These ancestors go to Vriska, Eridan, Gamzee, Terezi, Karkat, Equius, Tavros, Feferi, Sollux, Nepeta, Kanaya and Aradia respectfully.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', most of the trolls have these. There's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, Orphaner Dualscar, the Grand Highblood, Neophyte Redglare, the Sufferer, Expatriate Darkleer, the Summoner, Her Imperious Condescension, The Ψiioniic, The Disciple and The Dolorosa. These ancestors go to Vriska, Eridan, Gamzee, Terezi, Karkat, Equius, Tavros, Feferi, Sollux, Nepeta and Kanaya respectfully.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', most of the trolls have these. There's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, Orphaner Dualscar, the Grand Highblood, Neophyte Redglare, the Sufferer, Expatriate Darkleer, the Summoner, and Her Imperious Condenscension. These ancestors go to Vriska, Eridan, Gamzee, Terezi, Karkat, Equius, Tavros, and Feferi respectfully.

** Harry himself is apparently the direct male-line descendant of Ignotus Peverell.

* Played for humor in ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~=]'' as Mr L. Prosser (the man who wants to build a bypass through Arthur's home) is revealed as a direct male line descendant of Genghis Khan but the blood only shows up as predilection for little fur hats, a preference for axes over the door, and the occasional visions of screaming Mongol.
* In the short story ''The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter'', SherlockHolmes claims that his grandmother was sister of the French artist Horace Vernet.

* Several US presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and both Roosevelts, plus other famous Americans such as Robert E. Lee and Humphrey Bogart, claimed descent from European royalty. George W. Bush is known to be a descendant of Edward I, who ruled England from 1272 to 1307.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', most of the trolls have these. There's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, a powerful pirate that dominated the seas of Alternia; Orphaner Dualscar, Mindfang's kismesis and rival; the Grand Highblood, the highest-blooded land troll and an insane subjuggulator; and finally, Neophyte Redglare; an in-training legislacerator that was very talented, to the point where she and her lusus Pyralspite managed to [[spoiler:annihilate Mindfang's fleet and capture her]]. These ancestors go to Vriska, Eridan, Gamzee, and Terezi respectfully.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', most of the trolls have these. There's Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, a powerful pirate that dominated the seas of Alternia; Orphaner Dualscar, Mindfang's kismesis and rival; the Grand Highblood, the highest-blooded land troll and an insane subjuggulator; and finally, Neophyte Redglare; an in-training legislacerator that was very talented, to the point where she and her lusus Pyralspite managed to [[spoiler:annihilate Mindfang's fleet and capture the her]]. These ancestors go to Vriska, Eridan, Gamzee, and Terezi respectfully.

** Sanae Kotiya is a descendant of the original Goddess of Moriya Shrine, Suwako.

* Several US presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and both Roosevelts, plus other famous Americans such as Robert E. Lee and Humphrey Bogart, claimed descent from European royalty. George W. Bush (along with both 2008 U.S. Presidential candidates) is known to be a descendant of Edward I, who ruled England from 1272 to 1307.

* Classic radio-serial(and later comic book, movie and TV) hero ''TheGreenHornet''(real name Britt Reid) was a direct descendant of John Reid, better known as TheLoneRanger. The origins of the Reid family fortune could be traced back to the Lone Ranger's original silver mine.

* [[HarryPotter Voldemort]] is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, from whom he gets his ability to speak to snakes. He transferred this power to Harry by accident.

* In the extremely forgettable 1989 DTV skiffy movie ''Arena'', Steve Armstrong plays [[IAmNotMakingThisUp a short-order cook attempting to win the intergalactic boxing championship]]; it's mentioned briefly that he's a direct descendant of Neil Armstrong.

* Rose, on ''TheGoldenGirls'', believed for years that Bob Hope was her biological father.

Note that while it might seem impressive to claim certain historical figures as your ancestor, anyone who lived more than a few hundred years ago and had more than a few children could very well have millions of living descendants right now. See the entries from RealLife below.

* [[{{Sonichu}} Christian Weston Chandler]] in the ''Sonichu'' comic is descended from the "Ancient Leader of the Cherokee Clan", claiming this gives him "[[IncrediblyLamePun Anchuent]]" powers. In RealLife, he is under the delusion that he's descended from Anne Boleyn (whose only surviving child died a virgin) and thinks this makes him notable enough to have a Wikipedia article.