History Main / GiveTheBabyAFather

* Happens in the Naruto {{fanfic}} ''Teamwork''.

* In the newspaper comic ''ComicStrip/NineChickweedLane'', Gran/Edna says this is the reason she and Bill ultimately got married: He was "protecting her honor" after they discovered she was pregnant by the man she left to be with Bill.

* ''Manga/{{Hanasakeru Seishounen}}'': This is revealed to be the backstory for [[spoiler:Kajika's father Harry]]. His mother had a brief, yet loving relationship with [[spoiler:Prince Machaty of Raginei, Rumaty's grandfather]], and when he had to leave her and go back home, her best friend/coworker asked her to marry him so that he could give her unborn child a father. To be fair, if he'd had the chance, the child's biological father would have ''loved'' to marry the woman he impregnated, but given who he was, that was never going to be an option.
* In ''Manga/ShouwaGenrokuRakugoShinjuu'', [[spoiler:Kyouji aka Yotaro Yurakutei not only marries the daughter of his master, Konatsu, but becomes the father figure to her baby whose ''actual'' father remains unknown.]]

* Long before he would become the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Puppet Master, Phillip Masters' business partner Jacob Reiss was killed in an explosion that happened as a result of an argument between them; the explosion also blinded Reiss's daughter Alicia. Reiss's widow would later marry Phillip for this reason, and as a result of Alicia being his stepdaughter, Masters would develop a personal grudge against the Thing years later, when Alicia and the Thing start dating.

* In a ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fanfic, ''Father'', someone takes advantage of a drunk Asuka during a house party and she gets pregnant. Shinji instantly proposes to her. This, of course, is not something Asuka's father would tolerate and he attempts to force Asuka at gunpoint to cancel the engagement and have an abortion before returning to Germany for an ArrangedMarriage. The emphasis is on "attempts" as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Shinji]], [[ThreatBackfire Misato]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Gendo]] all gang up on him. Special mention goes to ''Gendo being a PapaWolf to Asuka''.
* Inverted in the ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9262641/1/Happy-Ending Happy Ending]]'', where Casca asks Griffith to be the father of her unborn child in Guts' absence. Internally, Griffith doesn't like the child, [[UnbalancedByRivalsKid due to it being a symbol of Gut and Casca's union]], but he ultimately relents since he cares for--and is physically dependent on--Casca. And just to add a [[{{Yandere}} classic Griffith creep factor]], he hopes that the child will at least [[StrongFamilyResemblance grow up to look and act like Guts.]]
* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' fanfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10487325/chapters/23135733 The Honourable Thing]],'' Beshelar is invited to a wedding; but then he gets a letter that the wedding is cancelled because the bridegroom--a (former) friend of his--ran away and left the pregnant bride to her fate. Having a very strong [[HonourBeforeReason sense of duty]], Beshelar asks the Emperor for some extra time off and attends the wedding... as the bridegroom.

* ''{{Film/Albert Nobbs}}'', which takes place in 19th-century Ireland, ends [[spoiler:with the girl the title character wanted to marry having had a baby by a cad, who's long-abandoned her. Albert himself has died (and been discovered to be secretly female), which didn't stop her from naming the baby for him. But she knows it's only a matter of time before the Church finds out, which means the baby will be taken away and she'll be thrown out onto the street. But when she tells Albert's friend Hubert (who is also secretly female) that, he says, "Well, we can't let that happen," and one assumes he's going to marry her to prevent it.]]

* This is what drives the plot of the Creator/KeanuReeves movie ''A Walk in the Clouds.'' He gets home from World War II and meets college student Victoria, who is pregnant from an affair with one of her professors. The professor has written her a letter ending the romance, so Keanu's character offers to pose as her husband (and thus the father of her child) and then send the letter after leaving her with her parents. Of course, things don't go as planned.

* ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay'': Sam Clay proposes to Rosa Saks for this reason. She's pregnant with his cousin Joe's child, Joe has gone off to war and probably isn't coming back, and he's gay and [[spoiler:heartbroken as he's just split up with his lover.]]

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': A variant in ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', the eponymous character has a forbidden inter-Clan relationship with Oakheart, and ends up having his children. Thrushpelt -- [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy despite also having feelings for Bluestar]] -- offers to help her care for the kits and let their Clanmates assume that Thrushpelt was the father, which Bluestar accepts.[[note]]There's a Clan rule which states that pregnant she-cats do not have to tell anyone who sired their kits, but doing so would have led to a lot of awkward/dangerous questions -- inter-Clan relationships are often punished with exile.[[/note]]

-->'''Lenny:''' So, me and Squiggy flipped a coin to see which one of us was gonna volunteer to be your husband.
-->'''Laverne:''' Awwww, and you lost, huh?
-->'''Lenny:''' No, I won.

-->'''Lenny:''' I'm gonna make a good living. Plus, I'll practically never hit you or nothin'...

* Literature/TheBible

* {{Inverted}} on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:'' a fifteen-year-old girl [[ItMakesSenseInContext who believes that Bart is sixteen (he saved the town and was rewarded with an official driver's license)]] tries to trick him into marrying her and eventually reveals that she's actually pregnant from a foreign exchange student from Norway. In a surprisingly heartwarming moment, Bart decides to marry her so her baby will have a dad (albeit they have to move to the only state where it could be done, Utah). Their parents stop them, and the girl's mother reveals that she's also pregnant, so they will [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo pretend that she had twins]] and allow her daughter to still live a normal life.

This trope has 3 main threads:

* Long before he would become the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Puppet Master, Phillip Masters' business partner Jacob Reiss was killed in an explosion that happened as a result of an argument between them; the explosion also blinded Reiss's daughter Alicia. Reiss's widow would later marry Phillip for this reason, and as a result of Alicia being his stepdaughter, Masters [[OverprotectiveDad would develop a personal grudge]] against the Thing years later, when Alicia and the Thing start dating.

# Protecting the mother from SlutShaming

* In the Literature/BookOfGenesis, Dinah is raped by Shechem, who then wants to marry her; instead, her brothers Levi and Simeon [[RapeAndRevenge kill him and raze his town]]. According to some Jewish accounts, Dinah was [[ChildByRape pregnant from the rape]] and was angry at her brothers, since she didn't think she could [[DefiledForever ever find another husband]] after the incident. She then forces Simeon to take her into his home like a wife and raise her child, though the two never actually [[BrotherSisterIncest consummate]] the arrangement.
** There is an alternative Rabbinical legend making her Job's wife. In yet another one, she goes to Egypt ahead of her family, where her daughter is adopted by a priest named Asenath, and grows up to marry Dinah's half-brother Joseph.
* As recounted in the Literature/GospelOfMatthew, Joseph hesitated to wed Mary because she was pregnant and he knew darn well it wasn't his. Not wanting her to be humiliated (or possibly even executed), he planned to quietly cancel their engagement. An angel from Heaven had to step in and tell him everything was okay. Even though Joseph was aware that the pregnancy was honorable, the marriage served the same purpose of this trope by legitimizing her pregnancy in the eyes of society.
* [[Literature/TheBible King David]] tried to pass his marriage to Bathsheba off as one of these (or even as just a regular marriage), but he actually was trying to cover up the fact that he got her pregnant even though she was already married... and he had [[UriahGambit killed her husband]] to facilitate the cover-up.

-->'''Opposing Political Slogan:''' Ma! Ma! Where's my pa?
-->'''Response:''' Gone to the White House! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/DollangangerSeries'': In ''Literature/PetalsOnTheWind'', Chris offers this when Cathy is pregnant with her first child. She actually ''is'' married to the father of her child, but he's an [[DomesticAbuse abusive asshole]]. In a slight variation on the trope, offer isn't really for ''Cathy's'' sake: Chris has been in love with her for a decade, and it's a plea that even pregnant with another man's child, he would still marry her in a heartbeat. (Also, [[BrotherSisterIncest because he's her brother]], the two of them beginning a marriage with a child they could ''raise'' together--but who is not ''biologically'' theirs together--would be quite convenient.)
-->'''Chris''': Come away and let me be the father to that child! Julian isn't fit!
** In the end, she marries Paul Sheffield, who she has loved on and off for years, for this reason when she is pregnant with Bart. And ultimately, she [[spoiler: one of her justifications for marrying Chris in the end was to give both Jory and Bart a father after Paul dies]].

* ''Manga/{{Hanasakeru Seishounen}}'': This is revealed to be the backstory for [[spoiler:Kajika's father Harry]]. His mother had a brief, yet loving relationship with [[spoiler:Prince Machaty of Raginei, Rumaty's grandfather]], and when he had to leave her and go back home, her best friend/coworker asked her to marry him so that he could give her unborn child a father. To be fair, if he'd had the chance, the child's biological father would have ''loved'' to marry the woman he impregnated, but given who he was, that was never going to be an option.

* Long before he would become the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Puppet Master, Phillip Masters' business partner Jacob Reiss was killed in an explosion that happened as a result of an argument between them; the explosion also blinded Reiss's daughter Alicia. Reiss's widow would later marry Phillip for this reason, and as a result of Alicia being his stepdaughter, Masters [[OverprotectiveDad would develop a personal grudge]] against the Thing years later, when Alicia and the Thing start dating.

* Also happens in a ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fanfic (''Father'') where someone takes advantage of a drunk Asuka during a house party and she gets pregnant. Shinji instantly proposes to her. This, of course, is not something Asuka's father would tolerate and he attempts to force Asuka at gunpoint to cancel the engagement and have an abortion before returning to Germany for an ArrangedMarriage. The emphasis is on "attempts" as [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Shinji]], [[ThreatBackfire Misato]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Gendo]] all gang up on him. Special mention goes to ''Gendo being a PapaWolf to Asuka''.
* Another fanfic, ''Acts of Kindness'', has Asuka finding out that Shinji is now engaged with one of their classmates because they had an affair and he accidentally got her pregnant. That's actually a cover story; what really happened is that [[spoiler:the girl got raped by her own father and got pregnant from it]]. Since the bastard was a Nerv employee, Gendo quickly has him disposed of by Section 2 and Shinji volunteers to provide the cover story. Of course, the girl then has a ConvenientMiscarriage and she moves out of the city, knowing that Shinji and Asuka love each other but CannotSpitItOut.
* Inverted in the ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9262641/1/Happy-Ending Happy Ending]]'', where Casca asks Griffith to be the father of her unborn child in Guts' absence. Internally, Griffith doesn't like the child, [[UnbalancedByRivalsKid due to it being a symbol of Gut and Casca's union]], but he ultimately relents since he cares for--and is physically dependent on--Casca. And just to add a [[{{Yandere}} classic Griffith creep factor]], he hopes that the child will at least [[StrongFamilyResemblance grow up to look and act like Guts.]]
* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' fanfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10487325/chapters/23135733 The Honourable Thing]],'' Beshelar is invited to a wedding; but then he gets a letter that the wedding is cancelled because the bridegroom--a (former) friend of his--ran away and left the pregnant bride to her fate. Having a very strong [[HonourBeforeReason sense of duty]], Beshelar asks the Emperor for some extra time off and attends the wedding... as the bridegroom.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' fanfic ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/9820206/1/Choices Choices]]'', Alesha Philips learns she's pregnant as a result of her rape. She can't bring herself to have [[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion an abortion]] and after she decides, "I'm having a baby", pal Matt Devlin corrects her--"No, ''we're'' having a baby." They never get a chance to discuss the logistics of whether this means they're now a couple or if they'll ever tell the kid about her true parentage because of course, she has a ConvenientMiscarriage.
* In ''Fanfic/ApprenticeAndPregnant'', Hollypaw was raped by a [=ShadowClan=] cat named Longtail and [[ChildByRape left pregnant]] as [[TeenPregnancy an apprentice]]. Her friend Greyclaw offered to act as her kit's father. The two ended up pairing up and, though their kits know their biological father is an unknown-to-them [=ShadowClan=] cat, they see Greyclaw as their father.
* An odd case is brought up in ''Secret Sunshine'', when Shiro, after hearing Ryuuko tell him that Satsuki became pregnant and that she's been raising Kiko, suggests that he marries ''her'' (not Satsuki). Of course, Ryuuko isn't sure as to how to respond to the idea.

* In Michael Bay's ''Film/PearlHarbor'', Rafe (Creator/BenAffleck) does this to his ex-girlfriend Evelyn (Creator/KateBeckinsale), who is pregnant with the kid of Rafe's best friend Danny (Creator/JoshHartnett) after he is shot down and killed in battle by the Japanese. This also neatly ties up the LoveTriangle.

* ''{{Film/Albert Nobbs}}'', which takes place in 19th-century Ireland, ends [[spoiler:with the girl the title character wanted to marry having had a baby by a cad, who's long-abandoned her. Albert himself has died (and been discovered to be secretly female), which didn't stop her from naming the baby for him. But she knows it's only a matter of time before the Church finds out, which means the baby will be taken away and she'll be thrown out onto the street. But when she tells Albert's friend Hubert (who is also secretly female) that, he says, "Well, we can't let that happen," and one assumes he's going to marry her to prevent it.]]
* ''¿Qué Culpa Tiene el Niño?'' revolves around a young woman, Maria, who, after getting pregnant at a wild party, is forced by her parents to marry the suspected father, Renato, in order to prevent causing a scandal for her politician father. When Maria gives birth, the baby is clearly Asian and thus cannot be Renato's son. However, Renato admits he always knew he wasn't the father, but chose to marry Maria both out of love for her and because he didn't want the baby to grow up fatherless like he did. The movie ends with the now happy couple and their family celebrating Renato Jr.'s first birthday.
* It's couched somewhat in the slang of the time, but in ''Film/{{Grease}}'', upon learning that Rizzo thinks she's pregnant, Kenickie immediately offers to marry her because "I don't run away from my mistakes." Rizzo gently turns him down, claiming it was somebody else's mistake, which clearly hurts him - and her, since she's lying to protect him. Near the end of the show, he brings it up again, and she reveals that she was wrong and she was never pregnant at all. Much to her delight, he still wants to marry her.
* Played with in the [[Film/TheCountOfMonteCristo2002 2002 movie adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. Unlike her book counterpart, who spent a year and a half waiting for Edmond to return before resigning herself to marrying Fernand, the movie version of Mercedes married Fernand just a couple of months after Edmond's arrest and supposed death. It's then revealed that she only married Fernand so quickly because she [[spoiler:found that she was pregnant with Edmond's child (making Edmond and Albert RelatedInTheAdaptation here)]] and, due to this taking place in the early 1800s, didn't have many other options available.

* ''Literature/CallMeSunflower'': [[spoiler:Sunny's legal adopted father was Mark Beringer. After Mark died, Mom entered a sham relationship with Mark's brother Scott, her best friend, so Sunny would have a father. They stayed together until Sunny was eleven and her sister Autumn was eight, at which point they finally split up.]]

* In ''Series/LaverneAndShirley,'' when Laverne thinks she might be pregnant (a few days after a drinking contest at a party where she can only remember bits and pieces), Lenny comes down to talk to Laverne.
-->'''Lenny:''' So, me and Squiggy flipped a coin to see which one of us was gonna volunteer to be your husband.
-->'''Laverne:''' Awwww, and you lost, huh?
-->'''Lenny:''' No, I won.
** He then adds how he's going to go out for an exam to get a better job.
-->'''Lenny:''' I'm gonna make a good living. Plus, I'll practically never hit you or nothin'...

* ''Series/Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'': Danny proposes to Jordan while she's giving birth. He first asked her out shortly after discovering she was pregnant, and she was initially worried that this trope was the sole reason for it.
* In ''Series/AWomanOfSubstance'', Blackie tells Emma to list him as the father of her child on the birth certificate when she refuses to name the real father, so the child will not have the shame of having the father listed as unknown.

* In ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'', Ben, convinced that he is in love, proposes to Amy shortly after finding out she's pregnant with Ricky's baby. Since they're 15 and have only been dating a few weeks at that point, their parents don't approve. In fact, no one thinks that Amy ''needs'' to be married just because she's pregnant. None of these things stop Amy and Ben from secretly getting married. But since it's with fake [=IDs=], the marriage is invalid and [[spoiler:they end up breaking up later anyway]].
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' Niles (somewhat drunkenly) proposes to Daphne after an [[MistakenForIndex overheard conversation]] leads him to believe she's pregnant with Frasier's child. While he's at a MasqueradeBall. [[ShoutOut Dressed as]] Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac. And he tries to challenge Frasier to a duel for actions which he interprets as an attempt to bully Daphne into keeping quiet. This being ''Frasier'', [[PoorCommunicationKills it's all a spectacular web of misunderstanding.]] Of course, it's really just Niles finding a way to express his love for Daphne via loophole. Once he finds out it's ''Roz'' who's pregnant, his desire to 'do the right thing' evaporates.

* Horshack in ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'' proposes to Rosalie Totsie after she claims to be pregnant by one of the Sweathogs. She's lying to trick them into taking back rumors about her being "easy;" but after the reveal, she thanks Arnold for offering to do the right thing and asks him out on a date.
* In Brazilian soap opera ''Chocolate Com Pimenta'', Ana Francisca is tricked by her boyfriend's aunt into thinking he knows about their yet to be born child but doesn't care. A rich man who had previously befriended her before she learns he's rich proposes to marry her and her family agrees for her honor's sake. People who don't know the real reason behind the marriage think she's a GoldDigger because of the big age gap between her and her husband.
* ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' Jan is raped and too terrified and ashamed to tell anyone but her friend Shawn. When he learns that she's pregnant, he declares that he's the father to spare her any humiliation, even as it results in him being blasted by virtually everyone, including his girlfriend's family, for supposedly having cheated on her. She eventually has a ConvenientMiscarriage, resulting in everything being revealed.
* ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s Jessica conceives after a drunken tryst with her friend Will. Despite her having cheated on him, her boyfriend Christian declares that ''he'' is her baby's father, presumably not wanting people to think she's a tramp. She later has a ConvenientMiscarriage.

* ''Series/{{Ezel}}'': One of the reasons Eyşan marries Cengiz is to give her unborn child a father. As it's early on in her pregnancy, she is able to keep his true parentage a secret for many years, until an offhand comment prompts Cengiz to investigate.

* ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': Jules proposes marriage to Lucienne so that her baby can have a father, after Kurt is being sent East. She accepts.
* Downplayed in ''Series/{{Bones}}''. Hodgins doesn't outright propose to Angela when he hears she's pregnant, but he immediately declares "I'm your guy" and promises to be there to support her and her child so she doesn't have to go through it alone. They both know that the father, Wendel, is a good man who would take care of his child, but he's also younger and not in as stable a position as Hodgins, and the pregnancy is the result of a casual fling. It quickly turns out that Angela had a false positive, but Hodgins's willingness to support her encourages her to rekindle their relationship after she and Wendel break up.

* In the Literature/BookOfGenesis, Dinah is raped by Shechem, who then wants to marry her; instead, her brothers Levi and Simeon [[RapeAndRevenge kill him and raze his town]]. According to some Jewish accounts, Dinah was [[ChildByRape pregnant from the rape]] and was angry at her brothers, since she didn't think she could [[DefiledForever ever find another husband]] after the incident. She then forces Simeon to take her into his home like a wife and raise her child, though the two never actually [[BrotherSisterIncest consummate]] the arrangement.
** There is an alternative Rabbinical legend making her Job's wife. In yet another one, she goes to Egypt ahead of her family, where her daughter is adopted by a priest named Asenath, and grows up to marry Dinah's half-brother Joseph.

3 To give a kid a (whatever gender the kid is) (mother, father) figure. (this is the most likely one for recent times that will be used).

Can be considered a DefiedTrope (or SubvertedTrope) to DefiledForever. From the mother's point of view, this may be seen as RemarryingForYourKids. Subtrope of HonorableMarriageProposal, and SisterTrope to ShotgunWedding, when the ''actual'' father is pressured into "doing the honorable thing".

This trope has two main threads:

# Supporting the mother and her child, because [[StrugglingSingleMother being a single parent is hard]]

* ''Film/SylviesLove'': Sylvie was pregnant with Robert's child when her fiancé Lacy returned from the Korean War, but Lacy still agreed to marry her for the child, which Sylvie comments was very noble.

* It's couched somewhat in the slang of the time, but in ''Theater/{{Grease}}'', upon learning that Rizzo thinks she's pregnant, Kenickie immediately offers to marry her because "I don't run away from my mistakes." Rizzo gently turns him down, claiming it was somebody else's mistake, which clearly hurts him - and her, since she's lying to protect him. Near the end of the show, he brings it up again, and she reveals that she was wrong and she was never pregnant at all. Much to her delight, he still wants to marry her.

* Long before he would become ''ComicBook/FantasticFour ''villain Puppet Master, Phillip Masters' business partner Jacob Reiss was killed in an explosion that happened as a result of an argument between them; the explosion also blinded Reiss's daughter Alicia. Reiss's widow would later marry Phillip for this reason, and as a result of Alicia being his stepdaughter, Masters [[OverprotectiveDad would develop a personal grudge]] against the Thing years later, when Alicia and the Thing start dating.

* Inverted in the ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' fanfic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9262641/1/Happy-Ending Happy Ending]]", where Casca asks Griffith to be the father of her unborn child in Guts' absence. Internally, Griffith doesn't like the child, [[UnbalancedByRivalsKid due to it being a symbol of Gut and Casca's union]], but he ultimately relents since he cares for--and is physically dependent on--Casca. And just to add a [[{{Yandere}} classic Griffith creep factor]], he hopes that the child will at least [[StrongFamilyResemblance grow up to look and act like Guts.]]
* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' fanfic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10487325/chapters/23135733 The Honourable Thing]] Beshelar is invited to a wedding, but then gets a letter that the wedding is cancelled because the bridegroom--a (former) friend of his--ran away and left the pregnant bride to her fate. Having a very strong [[HonourBeforeReason sense of duty]], Beshelar asks the Emperor for some extra time off and attends the wedding as bridegroom.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' fanfic "[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/9820206/1/Choices Choices]]", Alesha Philips learns she's pregnant as a result of her rape. She can't bring herself to have [[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion an abortion]] and after she decides, "I'm having a baby", pal Matt Devlin corrects her--"No, ''we're'' having a baby." They never get a chance to discuss the logistics of whether this means they're now a couple or if they'll ever tell the kid about her true parentage because of course, she has a ConvenientMiscarriage.

* In ''Film/PeopleWillTalk,'' Cary Grant's doctor/professor character meets Jeanne Crain's coed character, gives her the "yes, you are pregnant" news, upon which she says she's not married and immediately attempts suicide after leaving. Naturally, he does what any ethical medical professional would do given the circumstances: apologize for the "misdiagnosis", court and marry her lickety-split, and be overjoyed at her becoming pregnant very soon after--as far as she knows--the wedding. He eventually reveals the deception but convinces her he didn't do it out of pity but really loves her. ValuesDissonance, anyone?

* ''Film/SylviesLove'': Sylvie was pregnant with Robert's child when her fiance Lacy returned from the Korean War, but Lacy still agreed to marry her for the child, which Sylvie comments was very noble.
* This is what drives the plot of the Creator/KeanuReeves movie ''Film/AWalkInTheClouds.'' He gets home from World War II and meets college student Victoria, who is pregnant from an affair with one of her professors. The professor has written her a letter ending the romance, so Keanu's character offers to pose as her husband (and thus the father of her child) and then send the letter after leaving her with her parents. Of course, things don't go as planned.

** Chedan acknowledges Lissi, the daughter of his betrothed Elis, as his despite knowing he's not the father. (The situation would actually be even more serious if he ''was'', since sex with one's betrothed before marriage is heavily frowned upon in their society.) He strongly dislikes Lissi at first but eventually grows to love her. It is later revealed that Lissi's biological father is [[spoiler:Arvath]].

* In ''The Governess Affair'' by Courtney Milan, Hugo is hired to prevent a duke's ex-governess from causing a scandal. However, he learns that the duke had raped her, after which she was fired for not being a virgin (and thus too immoral to raise children), after which Serena realized she was pregnant with the duke's child. The threatened scandal is Serena's desperate attempt at child support. Hugo marries her himself and claims the child as his own, giving Serena and her child both respectability and financial support.

* ''The Keeper of the Bees'' by Creator/GeneStrattonPorter has Jamie [=MacFarlane=], a dying (he thinks) UsefulNotes/WorldWarI veteran, encountering a distraught woman who says she needs a marriage certificate and a name for an unborn child. He marries her at once, thinking he won't be around but the kid will be legitimate. Nine months later and starting to recover his health, he is called to the hospital, where his "wife" -- ''another woman entirely'' -- has just died in childbirth. The nurse catches on and hands him the kid once he assures her that his landlady can help to care for it.[[spoiler: The women were sisters, the elder standing in for the younger: when she'd met Jamie, she never said the items she needed were ''for her.'' Jamie later marries the older sister.]]

* ''Literature/MidnightsChildren'': Saleem reluctantly proposes to Parvati the Witch to save her honor after she gets pregnant with his archrival's son--whom she had an affair with ''on purpose'' in order to get Saleem to marry her. To be fair, he probably would have married her on his own if not for certain... [[BrotherSisterIncest issues]] he has [[NotBloodSiblings with his sister]].

* In ''Timepiece'', sequel to ''The Christmas Box'' and set in the early 1900s, [=MaryAnne=] Chandler becomes pregnant to her boyfriend, who promptly dumps her over it. Her employer, David, upon finding out, offers to marry her, since he cared about her already but had felt it was inappropriate to pursue a personal relationship given their professional one. As she has no other income and little savings, there are pragmatic reasons as well as the social ones.

** When Rachel has the baby, she thinks he is doing this- Ross has an engagement ring which his mother gave to him to propose, which he has no intention of doing. The ring falls out of Ross' left behind jacket, and Joey goes down on one knee to pick it up, leading Rachel to the wrong conclusion.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', after Robin sarcastically says she's pregnant after Ted asks why she was throwing up, he's down on one knee immediately, swearing that he'll marry her and help her raise the kid--though he quickly stipulates that it'll have to be "one of ''those'' marriages", where they date other people (this was long after Ted and Robin broke up). Later, the exchange is repeated between Robin and Barney, whose reaction is instead to bolt from the room in a panic at the ''thought'' of this trope.
* Horshack in ''Series/WelcomeBackKotter'' proposes to Rosalie Totsie after she claims to be pregnant by one of the Sweathogs. She's lying to trick them into taking back rumors about her being "easy," but after the reveal, she thanks Arnold for offering to do the right thing and asks him out on a date.

* ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s Jessica conceives after a drunken tryst with her friend Will. Despite her having cheated on him, her boyfriend Christian declares that ''he'' is her baby's father, presumably not wanting people to think she's a tramp.

* As recounted in the Literature/GospelOfMatthew, Joseph hesitated to wed Mary because she was pregnant and he knew darn well it wasn't his. Not wanting to humiliate (or possibly even execute) her, he planned to quietly cancel their engagement. An angel from Heaven had to step in and tell him everything was okay. Even though Joseph was aware that the pregnancy was honorable, the marriage served the same purpose of this trope by legitimizing her pregnancy in the eyes of society.

** There is an alternative Rabbinical legend making her Job's wife. In yet another one, she goes to Egypt ahead of her family, where her daughter is adopted by a priest, named Asenath, and grows up to marry Dinah's half-brother Joseph.

* {{Inverted}} on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons:'' a fifteen-year-old girl [[ItMakesSenseInContext who believes that Bart is sixteen (he saved the town and was rewarded an official driver's license)]] tries to trick him into marrying her and eventually reveals that she's actually pregnant from a foreign exchange student from Norway. In a surprisingly heartwarming moment, Bart decides to marry her so her baby will have a dad (albeit they have to move to the only state where it could be done, Utah). Their parents stop them, and the girl's mother reveals that she's also pregnant, so they will [[FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo pretend that she had twins]] and allow her daughter to still live a normal life.

* UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland did something roughly similar in real life. He didn't marry the mother but did support the child, even though he was only one of the possible fathers. His political opponents tried to use the scandal against him, but the fact that he owned up to the situation and took responsibility despite no one being sure he was the actual father made him look better in the long run.

[[/folder]]
----

* ''Series/LaCasaDePapel'' has Denver do this for Mónica's child.

** Chedan acknowledges Lissi, his fiancee Elis' daughter, as his even knowing he's not the father. He dislikes it at first but grows to love her. Later we discover her real father is [[spoiler:Arvath]]
** When [[spoiler:Domaris]] is pregnant by [[spoiler:Micon]], Arvath, out of jealousy, spreads a rumor that he is invoking this trope and that the real father is [[spoiler:Rajasta]], which would be deeply dishonorable if it were true since it would violate their mentor-student relationship.
** [[spoiler:Reio-Ta]] acknowledges [[spoiler:Tiriki]] as his child for two reasons; first, because [[spoiler:with Riveda dead, he would be unable to acknowledge her]] and second, so he can legally take her away from Atlantis, where she would be persecuted for her true father's crimes.

* This is what drives the plot of the Creator/KeanuReeves movie ''A Walk in the Clouds.'' He gets home from World War II and meets college student Victoria, who is pregnant from an affair with one of her professors. The professor has written her a letter ending the romance, so Keanu's character offers to pose as her husband (and thus the father of her child) and then send the letter after leaving her with her parents. Of course, things don't go as planned.

* In ''People Will Talk,'' Cary Grant's doctor/professor character meets Jeanne Crain's coed character, gives her the "yes, you are pregnant" news, upon which she says she's not married and immediately attempts suicide after leaving. Naturally, he does what any ethical medical professional would do given the circumstances: apologize for the "misdiagnosis", court and marry her lickety-split, and be overjoyed at her becoming pregnant very soon after--as far as she knows--the wedding. He eventually reveals the deception but convinces her he didn't do it out of pity but really loves her. ValuesDissonance, anyone?

* In Michael Bay's ''{{Film/Pearl Harbor}}'', Rafe (Creator/BenAffleck) does this to his ex-girlfriend Evelyn (Creator/KateBeckinsale), who is pregnant with the kid of Rafe's best friend Danny (Creator/JoshHartnett) after he is shot down and killed in battle by the Japanese. This also neatly ties up the LoveTriangle.