List of orphans and foundlings
"Famous orphans" redirects here. For other uses, see Orphan.
Notable orphans and foundlings include world leaders, celebrated writers, entertainment greats, figures in science and business, as well as innumerable fictional characters in literature and comics. While the exact definition of orphan varies, one legal definition is a child bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents".[1] According to the United Nations, the definition of an orphan is anyone that loses one parent, either through death or abandonment.
Figures from classical history and religious scripture
- Aandaal, Tamil saint, found in a temple garden
- Agrippina the Elder, prominent Roman woman of the first century CE
- Agrippina the Younger, Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty
- Ambrose, bishop of Milan, consular prefect of Liguria and Emilia
- Mark Antony, Roman politician and general
- Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, orphaned in early childhood
- Augustus, Roman emperor
- Beowulf, mythical hero-king of the Geats, raised by his grandfather
- Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, Roman politician & assassin
- Britannicus, son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina
- Julius Caesar, Roman politician, general, and author
- Caligula, Roman emperor in AD 37–41
- Cato the Younger, Roman Republic, left an orphan and raised by his uncle
- Claudius, Roman emperor from 41 to 54
- Confucius, Chinese scholar & politician
- Cyrus the Great, Persian emperor, orphaned in childhood
- Moses, religious leader, given up as an infant
- Nero, Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty
- Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children, orphaned early in childhood
- Oedipus, mythical Greek king, abandoned on a mountain
- Pancras, Roman religious figure
- Plato, philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens
- Pliny the Younger, lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome
- Pulcheria, Roman ruler "Augusta Imperatrix"
- Romulus and Remus, traditional founders of Ancient Rome, orphaned in infancy
Civic and religious leaders
- Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, monarch
- Pope Alexander VI
- Anne of Brittany, French queen
- Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkish military and political figure
- August Bebel, German socialist politician
- David Ben-Gurion, Israeli leader
- Simón Bolívar, Latin American leader, orphaned at age 8
- William Bradford, colonial governor, orphaned at age 7
- John Church, clergyman, found as a toddler
- Bill Clinton, American politician
- George Clymer, early American politician
- Edward VI of England, orphaned at age 9
- Elizabeth I
- Peter Francisco, soldier, found on a Virginia dock as a young child
- Frederick II, medieval monarch
- Mariano Gálvez, Guatemalan politician, foundling adopted and raised by Gálvez family
- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence leader
- Alexander Hamilton, American politician, orphaned at age 13
- Adolf Hitler, German politician
- Hongwu, Chinese emperor
- Ben W. Hooper, governor of Tennessee, raised in an orphanage
- Herbert Hoover, U.S. president, orphaned at age 9
- Ivan IV, Russian ruler, orphaned at age 8
- Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, orphaned at age 14
- Pope John Paul II
- Piet Joubert, military leader in South African Republic
- Benito Juarez, Mexican president, orphaned at age 3
- Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
- Koxinga, Chinese leader
- Edward Langworthy, U.S. politician, raised in an orphanage
- Vladimir Lenin, Russian politician, and political theorist
- Abraham Lincoln, United States president
- Louis XIV of France
- Malcolm X, politician and civil rights activist, raised in an orphanage and foster care
- Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, raised as a ward
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- Mary, Queen of Scots, and of France
- Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France
- Muhammad, religious leader, orphaned at age 6
- Pedro II of Brazil
- Li Peng, Chinese politician
- Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina
- Philip II, of Spain, Portugal, Naples and Sicily
- Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli politician
- Cardinal Richelieu, French cleric & politician
- Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady & activist, orphaned at age 10
- Maximilien Robespierre, French politician
- Gerhard Schröder, German politician
- Joseph F. Smith, American religious leader, orphaned at age 13
- Edith Stein, German Jewish philosopher and Catholic saint
- Pope Stephen II
- Bertha von Suttner, Czech-Austrian pacifist and novelist
- Tecumseh, Native American leader, orphaned as a child
- Mother Teresa, nun and Nobelist
- Victoria of the United Kingdom
- Tom Vilsack, American politician, adopted at birth
- Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military & political leader
- George Washington, American politician
- James West, Scouting leader, raised in an orphanage
- William I, German Emperor
Writers
- Edward Albee, playwright, adopted as an infant
- Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author
- Bettina von Arnim, writer et al.
- Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, English novelists and poets, the Brontë sisters
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, English-American novelist and playwright
- Albert Camus, French author, philosopher and journalist
- Joseph Conrad, author, orphaned at age 11
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher
- Per Olov Enquist, Swedish author, journalist, playwright, and novelist
- Ian Fleming, English author
- Paul Gerhardt, German theologian
- Julien Green, American writer
- Brothers Grimm, German academics
- Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968
- John Keats, poet, raised partly by his grandmother
- Heinrich von Kleist, German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer
- Hugh Leonard, playwright and essayist, abandoned as an infant
- C. S. Lewis, British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer
- H. P. Lovecraft, American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction
- Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
- W. Somerset Maugham, author, orphaned at age 10
- Andy McNab, soldier and novelist, found as a baby on the steps of hospital
- Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period
- James A. Michener, author, abandoned as an infant
- Eduard Mörike, German writer
- Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and Nobelist
- Georges Perec, French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist
- Edgar Allan Poe, author, orphaned at age 2
- Jean Racine, French playwright, orphaned at age 4
- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, logician, writer and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
- Claude Simon, Malagasy-French novelist and critic and the 1985 Nobel Laureate in Literature
- Henry Morton Stanley, journalist and explorer, raised in a workhouse
- Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector
- Stendhal, French writer
- J. R. R. Tolkien, author, orphaned at age 12
- Leo Tolstoy, author, orphaned at age 9
- Kurt Tucholsky, German-Jewish journalist and writer
- Mark Twain, American writer et al.
- Dale Wasserman, playwright, orphaned at age 9
- Pete Wells, food critic, adopted as an infant
- Virginia Woolf, English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century
- William Wordsworth, poet, orphaned at age 12
Musicians and singers
- Louis Armstrong, musician, raised in an orphanage and by his grandmother
- Johann Sebastian Bach, composer, orphaned at age 9
- Hank Ballard, Amarican rhythm and blues singer and songwriter
- Ray Charles, singer, orphaned at age 15
- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist
- Christoph Eschenbach, German-born musician
- Ibrahim Ferrer, Afro-Cuban musician
- Ella Fitzgerald, singer, orphaned in childhood
- Kirk Franklin, African American musician
- George Frideric Handel, German, later British baroque composer
- Jimi Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter
- James Hetfield, singer, orphaned by cancer at 16
- Farinelli, Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera
- Faith Hill, singer, adopted as an infant
- Billie Holiday, singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
- Emmanuel Jal, rapper among Lost Boys of Sudan
- Jenkins Orphanage, band in US
- Kiri Te Kanawa, singer, adopted as an infant
- Juan Karlos Labajo, singer, abandoned by father, and mother died at age 12
- John Lennon, musician, raised by aunt and uncle
- Madonna (entertainer), American performer
- Miriam Makeba, South African singer and activist
- Paul McCartney, English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer
- Mims, rapper, orphaned at age 13
- Sonny Moore, musician, adopted as an infant
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- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and Roman School of musical composition
- Trent Reznor, abandoned by parents at age 5 and raised by grandparents
- John Rzeznik, musician, orphaned at age 15
- Franz Schubert, Austrian composer
- Robert Schumann, German composer and influential music critic
- Choi Sung-bong, singer of the Republic of Korea
- Tina Turner, singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
- Tomás Luis de Victoria, the most famous composer in 16th-century Spain and Counter-Reformation
- Muddy Waters, American blues musician
- Roger Waters, English musician
- Jimmy Wayne, singer, homeless foster teen taken in by a couple in their 70's
Artists, actors, and entertainers
- Tallulah Bankhead, actress, orphaned as an infant
- Ingrid Bergman, actress, orphaned at age 12
- Buffalo Bill, American frontier figure
- Cate Blanchett, Australian actress and theatre director
- Tuki Brando, model, orphaned at age 4
- Charles Bronson, Lithuanian-American film and television actor
- Carol Burnett, entertainer, raised by her grandmother
- Charlie Chaplin, English entertainer
- William Castle, American film figjure, orphaned at age 11
- Coco Chanel, French fashion designer and entrepreneur
- Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter
- Henry Darger, artist (whose work focused on orphans), orphaned at age 13.
- Tommy Davidson, comedian, orphaned as infant
- Daniel Day-Lewis, English actor
- James Dean, American actor
- Benicio del Toro, Puerto Rican actor
- Juliette Drouet, actress, orphaned in childhood
- Ger Duany, actor, among Lost Boys of Sudan
- Barry Evans, English actor, abandoned as an infant, raised in an orphanage
- Jane Fonda, American actress, writer, political activist and fitness guru
- Caspar David Friedrich, German Romantic landscape painter
- Greta Garbo, Swedish-born American film actress
- Paul Gauguin, French post-Impressionist artist
- Bill Graham, music figure
- Gene Hackman, American actor and novelist
- Oliver Hardy, American actor of Laurel and Hardy
- Ice-T, actor, rapper, orphaned at age 9
- Deborah Kerr, Scottish-born film, theatre and television actress
- Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood actor
- Nadech Kugimiya, Thai model and actor
- Art Linkletter, entertainer, abandoned as an infant
- Ray Liotta, actor, adopted at 6 months
- George Lopez, comedian, raised by a grandmother
- Peter Lorre, Austro-Hungarian-American actor
- Lee Majors, actor, orphaned at age 2 & raised by aunt and uncle
- Andrea Mantegna, Italian Renaissance painter
- Frances McDormand, actress, adopted as an infant
- Ian McKellen, English actor
- Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance
- Marilyn Monroe, entertainer, raised in foster care
- Armin Mueller-Stahl, German film actor, painter and author
- Steve Oedekerk, comedian and film producer, adopted as an infant
- Laurence Olivier, English actor
- I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect
- Priscilla Presley, American actress and entrepreneur
- Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born American actor, painter and writer
- Raphael, Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance
- Alan Rickman, English actor and director
- Julia Roberts, American actress and producer
- Géza Röhrig, Hungarian actor and poet, raised in an orphanage
- Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter
- Margaret Rutherford, English actress
- Ivian Sarcos, Miss World 2011, orphaned at age 8
- Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Prussian architect, city planner, and painter
- Barbara Stanwyck, actress, raised in foster homes from age 2
- Barbra Streisand, American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker
- Bianca Umali, actress and commercial model, orphaned at 7
- Naomi Watts, English actress and film producer
- Orson Welles, actor and director, orphaned at age 15
Athletes
- Alberto Ascari, Italian racing driver and twice Formula One World Champion
- Simone Biles, Olympic gymnast, adopted by her grandparents
- Johan Cruyff, Dutch professional football player and coach
- Eusébio, Portuguese footballer who played as a striker.
- Scott Hamilton, figure skater, adopted as an infant
- Carlin Isles, rugby star, adopted at age 8
- Lopez Lomong, U.S. Olympic track star, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
- Greg Louganis, Olympic diver, adopted as an infant
- Guor Marial, Olympic runner, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
- Billy Mills, Olympic runner, orphaned at age 12
- Jochen Rindt, racing driver, the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One
- Babe Ruth, baseball star, raised in an orphanage
- Jim Thorpe, multi-sport Olympic and professional athlete, orphaned as a teen
- Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, African triathlete and advocate for the rights of the disabled
Scientists and scholars
- Jean le Rond d'Alembert, mathematician, abandoned as an infant
- John Bardeen, American physicist and electrical engineer
- Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor
- George Washington Carver, scientist, inventor, orphaned while a slave
- Henry Cavendish, British natural philosopher, scientist, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist
- Maud Chifamba, the youngest university student in Africa, orphaned at age 14
- Nicolaus Copernicus, Renaissance mathematician and astronomer
- Marie Curie, Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
- Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician and polymath
- Charles Darwin, English scientist
- René Descartes, French philosopher and polymath
- Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician
- Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician
- Fritz Haber, German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism
- Alexander von Humboldt, Prussian polymath
- Wilhelm von Humboldt, Prussian philosopher and public figure
- David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist
- Immanuel Kant, German philosopher who is considered the central figure of modern philosophy
- Johannes Kepler, scientist, raised by grandmother
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German polymath and philosopher
- James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics
- Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician
- Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, writer, and linguist
- Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher
- Linus Pauling, American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator
- Emmi Pikler, Hungarian pediatrician and infant-education theorist
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher, raised by aunt and uncle
- Bertrand Russell, philosopher, orphaned at age 3
- Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, writer, and activist
- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
- Percy Spencer, inventor, orphaned in childhood
- Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin
- Robert Taylor, internet pioneer, adopted at age 28 days
Business people
- Roman Abramovich, Russian businessman and politician
- Arthur E. Andersen, accounting firm founder, orphaned as a teen
- Anthony Bacon, British iron pioneer
- L.L. Bean, retail catalog magnate, orphaned at age 12
- Karl Benz, German engine designer and automobile engineer
- William Boeing, American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company
- André Citroën, French industrialist and freemason
- Thomas Cook, founded the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son
- Jakob Fugger, major merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker of Europe
- Henry Ford, American founder of Ford Motor Company
- Samuel Goldwyn, film mogul, raised by relatives
- Howard Hughes, American entrepreneur
- Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder, adopted as infant
- Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, orphaned as a teen
- Wilhelm Maybach, German engine designer and industrialist
- Tom Monaghan, Domino's Pizza founder, partially raised in an orphanage
- Rudolf August Oetker, German entrepreneur
- Mary Portas, English retail consultant, and broadcaster, orphaned at age 18
- Vidal Sassoon, beauty products magnate, placed in an orphanage at age 7
- Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
- Levi Strauss, American Jewish businessman
- Dave Thomas, Wendy's entrepreneur adoption advocate, adopted as an infant
- Jerry Yang, Taiwanese American Internet entrepreneur and programmer
- Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and aircraft manufacturer
Otherwise notables
- Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer
- William Blackstone, English jurist and political figure
- Jacqueline Cochran, American aviation pioneer
- William Dampier, Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia and pirate
- Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector and bohemian socialite
- Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger
- Billy the Kid, American Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War
- Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer of aviation
- Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer
- James Naismith, Canadian-American, inventor of basketball
- Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Lee Harvey Oswald, American assassin
- Sager orphans, twice-orphaned American settlers
- Grigori Rasputin, Russian peasant and mystical faith healer
- Hartmann Schedel, German physician, humanist, historian, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press
- Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist
- Minik Wallace, Inuk anthropology subject
- Lu Yu, ancient author of The Classic of Tea
Fictional characters
See also Category:Fictional orphans
In literature
- Frodo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings
- Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, A Series of Unfortunate Events
- James Bond
- Natty Bumppo, a.k.a. "Hawkeye", Leatherstocking Tales
- Cinderella
- David Copperfield
- Cosette, in the novel Les Misérables
- Ponyboy Curtis, The Outsiders
- Eragon, Inheritance Cycle
- Jane Eyre
- Huckleberry Finn
- Dorothy Gale, Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights
- Heidi
- Tom Jones
- Stephen Maturin, Master and Commander
- Nellie O'Malley, American Girl Dolls series
- Pip, Great Expectations
- Pollyanna
- Harry Potter
- Quasimodo
- Tom Sawyer
- Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables
- Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire
- Tarzan
- Oliver Twist
- Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter
In popular culture
- Abarai Renji, (Bleach)
- Alex Rider, Stormbreaker
- Allen Walker, (D.Gray-man)
- Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist
- Batman and Robin
- Bridget & Papa Mousekewitz, (An American Tail)
- Cagalli Yula Athha, (Mobile Suit Gundam SEED)
- Char Aznable, Mobile Suit Gundam
- Ciel Phantomhive, (Black Butler)
- Cyclops
- Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist
- Elfman Strauss, (Fairy Tail)
- Ellie (Ice Age)
- Ezra Bridger, (Star Wars Rebels)
- Erza Scarlet, (Fairy Tail)
- Erin Hannon, The Office
- Evey Hammond, V for Vendetta
- Fatmagül Ketenci Ilgaz
- Fox McCloud, Star Fox (series)
- Gaara, (Naruto)
- Gintoki Sakata, (Gin Tama)
- Goku, Dragon Ball
- Gray Fullbuster, (Fairy Tail)
- Grizz, Pan-Pan & Ice Bear, (We Bare Bears), (Presumed orphans)
- Himura Kenshin, Rurouni Kenshin
- Inuyasha (character), Inuyasha
- Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Shippūden
- James Bond
- Jellal Fernandez, (Fairy Tail)
- Kabuto Yakushi, Naruto
- Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star
- Lacus Clyne, Gundam franchise)
- Lelouch Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Lisanna Strauss, (Fairy Tail)
- Little Orphan Annie
- Lucy Heartfilia, (Fairy Tail)
- Margo, Edith and Agnes, Despicable Me series
- Magneto
- Mirajane Strauss, (Fairy Tail)
- Misa Amane, (Death Note)
- Misty, Pokémon franchise
- Motoko Kusanagi
- Mowgli, The Jungle Book
- Mukuro Rokudo, Reborn!
- Myōjin Yahiko. Rurouni Kenshin
- Nami, One Piece franchise
- Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
- Natsu Dragneel, (Fairy Tail)
- Nunnally Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Nutsy, Blinky Bill the Movie
- Omi, (Xiaolin Showdown)
- Orihime Inoue, Bleach
- Orochimaru, Naruto
- Otto Osworth, Time Squad
- Paddington Bear
- Phoenix Ikki, Saint Seiya
- Punky Brewster,
- Raiden
- Rin, Inuyasha
- Rolo Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
- Rukia Kuchiki, Bleach
- Sai, Naruto Shippūden
- Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon
- Santa Claus, Father Christmas, and other personifications of the orphaned Saint Nicholas
- Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto
- Shorty, (The Land Before Time)
- Shinpachi Shimura, (Gin Tama)
- Shinn Asuka, (Gundam (franchise))
- Snow White
- Sookie Stackhouse
- Sougo Okita, Gin Tama
- Spider-Man
- Storm
- Superman
- Suzaku Kururugi, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
- Tae Shimura, Gin Tama
- The Penguins: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico & Private, (Madagascar franchise), (Presumed orphans)
- Tarzan
- Tod of "The Fox and the Hound"
- Tohru Honda, Fruits Basket
- Upin & Ipin
- Vash the Stampede, Trigun
- Wendy Marvell, (Fairy Tail)
- Wolverine
- Yotsuba Koiwai, Yotsuba&!
Related lists
See also Category:Adoptees for lists of notable people who have been adopted (including by step-parents): many adoptees are neither orphans nor foundlings.
References
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