List of orphans and foundlings

Africa

• Amenhotep III, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty
• Hatshepsut, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
• Thutmose III, Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty

Asia

• Aandaal, Tamil saint, found in a temple garden
• Antiochus III the Great, Hellenistic Greek king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Confucius, Chinese scholar & politician
• Cyrus the Great, Persian emperor, orphaned in childhood
• Esther, Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus
• Moses, religious leader, given up as an infant
• Sargon of Akkad, ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire
• Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children, orphaned early in childhood
• Pulcheria, Roman ruler "Augusta Imperatrix"

Europe

Oedipus

• Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, orphaned in early childhood
• Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
• Britannicus, son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina
• Caligula, Roman emperor in AD 37–41
• Cato the Younger, Roman Republic, left an orphan and raised by his uncle
• Hadrian, Roman emperor
• Juba II, king of Numidia and then later moved to Mauretania and his wife Cleopatra Selene II
• Julian, Roman Emperor and philosopher
• Oedipus, mythical Greek king, abandoned on a mountain
• Pancras, Roman religious figure
• Galla Placidia, major force in Roman politics
• Romulus and Remus, traditional founders of Ancient Rome, orphaned in infancy
• Sulla, Roman general and statesman
• Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor

Africa

• Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam
• Jean-Bédel Bokassa, military officer and the head of state of the Central African Republic and Emperor of Central Africa
• Piet Joubert, military leader in South African Republic
• Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan politician and the first President of Kenya
• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African activist and politician
• Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, raised as a ward
• Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia
• Mobutu Sese Seko, military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Asia

Genghis Khan

Saddam Hussein

• Akbar, rulers of the Mughal Dynasty in India
• Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
• Chulalongkorn, monarch of Siam
• Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda State
• Go-Momozono, Emperor of Japan
• Go-Sakuramachi, Emperor of Japan
• Go-Toba, Emperor of Japan
• Hongwu, Chinese emperor
• Huineng, Buddhist monk who is one of the most important figures in Chan Buddhism
• Saddam Hussein, 5th President of Iraq
• Hu Jintao, Chinese politician and the paramount leader of China
• Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China
• Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
• Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian politician, head of a democratically elected government and Prime Minister of Iran
• Muhammad, religious leader, orphaned at age 6
• Nripendra Narayan, Maharaja of the princely state of Koch Bihar
• Li Peng, Chinese politician
• Madho Singh II, Maharajadhiraja of Jaipur
• Seiwa, Emperor of Japan
• Nader Shah, Iranian rulers
• Reza Shah, Shah of Iran (Persia)
• Adi Shankaracharya, Scholar,Philosopher,Reformer, Advaita Vedanta Non-Dualism
• Theodora, empress of the Byzantine Empire
• Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder and the first shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan

Australia

• Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii
• John Gorton, Prime Minister of Australia
• Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia
• John McEwen, Prime Minister of Australia
• William McMahon, Prime Minister of Australia
• Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia

Europe

Anne of Brittany

Adolf Hitler

Ivan the Terrible

• Pope Adrian VI
• Alfred the Great, King of Wessex from 871 to 899
• Yuri Andropov, Chairman of the KGB and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• Anne of Brittany, French queen
• Eleanor of Aquitaine, member of the Ramnulfid dynasty and one of the most powerful women in the High Middle Ages
• Manuel Azaña, second Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic
• Charles V, ruler of both the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire
• Charlotte, wife of George III, King of England
• John Church, clergyman, found as a toddler
• Pope Clement VII
• Clovis I, first King of the Franks
• Edward VI of England, orphaned at age 9
• Elizabeth I, Queen of England
• Elizabeth of Russia, Empress of Russia
• Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, medieval monarch
• Henry VI, King of England and France
• Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany, orphaned at 13
• Ivan IV, Russian ruler, orphaned at age 8
• Joan II of Navarre, Queen of Navarre
• John I, King of Portugal and the Algarve
• Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian diplomat, politician, judge and the eighth President of Austria.
• Pope Leo X
• Louis XV, King of France
• Louis XVI of France
• Maria II, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves
• Mary, Queen of Scots, and of France
• Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France
• Peter II of Russia, Emperor of Russia
• Peter III of Russia, Emperor of Russia
• Philip IV, of France, called the Fair or the Iron King
• Maximilien Robespierre, French politician during the French Revolution, orphaned at 19
• Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military & political leader

North America

Alexander Hamilton

Eleanor Roosevelt

• William Bradford, colonial governor, orphaned at age 7
• George Clymer, early American politician
• Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman
• Peter Francisco, soldier, found on a Virginia dock as a young child
• Mariano Gálvez, Guatemalan politician, foundling adopted and raised by Gálvez family
• Alexander Hamilton, American politician, orphaned at age 13
• John Hancock, American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution
• Ben W. Hooper, governor of Tennessee, raised in an orphanage
• Herbert Hoover, U.S. president, orphaned at age 9
• Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, orphaned at age 14
• Benito Juarez, Mexican president, orphaned at age 3
• Edward Langworthy, American politician, raised in an orphanage
• Moctezuma II, ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan
• Malcolm X, politician and civil rights activist, raised in an orphanage and foster care
• Christopher G. Memminger, German American politician, raised in an orphanage
• James Monroe, fifth President of the United States
• Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady & activist, orphaned at age 10
• Joseph F. Smith, American religious leader, orphaned at age 13
• Tenskwatawa, Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe
• Tom Vilsack, American politician, adopted at birth

South America

• Simón Bolívar, Latin American leader, orphaned at age 8
• Pedro II of Brazil

Africa

• Ingrid Jonker, South African poet

Yasunari Kawabata

Asia

• Kobayashi Issa, Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest
• Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968
• Natsume Sōseki, Japanese novelist

Europe

Dante

J. R. R. Tolkien

Leo Tolstoy

• Dante Alighieri, simply called Dante, major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages
• Bettina von Arnim, German writer and novelist
• Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, post-romanticist poet and writer
• Joseph Conrad, Polish-British author, orphaned at age 11
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher
• Maxim Gorky, Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist
• Attila József, Hungarian poet
• John Keats, English Romantic poet, orphaned at age 14 and raised partly by his grandmother
• Hugh Leonard, Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist, abandoned as an infant
• Mikhail Lermontov, Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter
• W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist and short story writer, orphaned at age 10
• Andy McNab, English soldier and novelist, found as a baby on the steps of hospital
• Eduard Mörike, German writer
• Georges Perec, French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist
• Jean Racine, French playwright, orphaned at age 4
• Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, logician, writer and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
• George Sand, French novelist and memoirist
• J. R. R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, philologist and university professor, orphaned at age 12
• Leo Tolstoy, Russian author, orphaned at age 9
• William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet, orphaned at age 12

North America

Edgar Allan Poe

• Edward Albee, American playwright, adopted as an infant
• James A. Michener, American author, abandoned as an infant
• Edgar Allan Poe, author, orphaned at age 2
• William Saroyan, Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer
• Henry Morton Stanley,Welsh-American journalist and explorer, raised in a workhouse
• Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector
• Dale Wasserman, American playwright, orphaned at age 9
• Pete Wells, American food critic, adopted as an infant

Africa

• Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean popular singer
• Emmanuel Jal, South Sudanese-Canadian rapper
• Miriam Makeba, South African singer and activist

Asia

• Juan Karlos Labajo, Filipino singer, abandoned by father, and mother died at age 12
• Choi Sung-bong, singer of the Republic of Korea

Australia

• Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano singer, adopted as an infant

Europe

John Lennon

• Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer, orphaned at age 9
• Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets
• Josquin des Prez, French composer and singer of the Renaissance
• Christoph Eschenbach, German-born musician
• John Lennon, English singer, raised by aunt and uncle
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Swedish pop and jazz singer
• Henry Purcell, English composer
• Antonio Salieri, Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher
• Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer

North America

• Louis Armstrong, American musician, raised in an orphanage and by his grandmother
• Hank Ballard, American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter
• Ray Charles, American singer, orphaned at age 15
• Ibrahim Ferrer, Afro-Cuban musician
• Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer, orphaned in childhood
• Kirk Franklin, American gospel musician
• James Hetfield, American singer, orphaned by cancer at 16
• Faith Hill, American singer, adopted as an infant
• Billie Holiday, American jazz singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
• B. B. King, American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer
• Eartha Kitt, American singer, actress, activist and voice actress
• Jenkins Orphanage, American band in US
• Mims, American hip hop recording artist, orphaned at age 13
• Sonny Moore, American electronic dance music producer, adopted as an infant
• Trent Reznor, American singer, abandoned by parents at age 5 and raised by grandparents
• Jimmie Rodgers, American country singer
• John Rzeznik, American musician, orphaned at age 15
• Bessie Smith, American blues singer, orphaned at age 9
• Tina Turner, American singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
• Muddy Waters, American blues musician
• Jimmy Wayne, American country music singer, homeless foster teen taken in by a couple in their 70's

South America

• Víctor Jara, Chilean poet, singer-songwriter, teacher, theatre director and political activist
• Milton Nascimento, Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist

Africa

Charlize Theron

• Ger Duany, actor, among Lost Boys of Sudan
• Charlize Theron, South African and American actress and film producer

Asia

Preity Zinta

• Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood actor
• Nadech Kugimiya, Thai model and actor
• I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect
• Bianca Umali, Filipino Teen actress, commercial model and recurring dancer, orphaned at 7
• Preity Zinta, Indian film actress

Australia

Cate Blanchett

• Cate Blanchett, Australian actress and theatre director
• Guy Pearce, Australian actor and musician

Europe

Naomi Watts

• Leon Battista Alberti, Italian humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer
• Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress, orphaned at age 12
• Caravaggio, Italian painter
• Rosa Bonheur, French artist, an animalière (painter of animals) and sculptor
• Charlie Chaplin, English entertainer
• Coco Chanel, French fashion designer and entrepreneur
• Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter
• Daniel Day-Lewis, English actor
• Edgar Degas, French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings
• Marlene Dietrich, German actress and singer
• Juliette Drouet, French actress, orphaned in childhood
• Barry Evans, English actor, abandoned as an infant, raised in an orphanage
• Caspar David Friedrich, German Romantic landscape painter
• Greta Garbo, Swedish-born American film actress
• Paul Gauguin, French post-Impressionist artist
• Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian Baroque painter
• Alfred Hitchcock, English film director and producer
• Hape Kerkeling, German actor, presenter and comedian
• Deborah Kerr, Scottish-born film, theatre and television actress
• Adolf Loos, Austrian and Czechoslovak architect and influential European theorist of Modern architecture
• Peter Lorre, Austro-Hungarian-American actor
• Andrea Mantegna, Italian Renaissance painter
• Ian McKellen, English actor
• Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance
• Molière, French playwright and actor who and one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature
• Armin Mueller-Stahl, German film actor, painter and author
• Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and printmaker
• David Niven, English actor and novelist
• Laurence Olivier, English actor
• Parmigianino, Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker
• Roman Polanski, French-Polish film director, producer, writer, and actor
• Oleg Popov, Russian clown and circus artist
• Neo Rauch, German painter
• Raphael, Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance
• Alan Rickman, English actor and director
• Géza Röhrig, Hungarian actor and poet, raised in an orphanage
• Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter
• Margaret Rutherford, English actress
• Egon Schiele, Austrian painter
• Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Prussian architect, city planner, and painter
• Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school
• Volker Schlöndorff, German filmmaker
• Margarethe von Trotta, German film director
• Marie Tussaud, French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds
• Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress and film director
• Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, French painter
• Naomi Watts, English actress and film producer

North America

Veronica Lake

Marilyn Monroe

Julia Roberts

Lana Turner

• Tallulah Bankhead, American actress, orphaned as an infant
• Buffalo Bill, American frontier figure
• Charles Bronson, Lithuanian-American film and television actor
• Carol Burnett, American actress, comedian, singer and writer, raised by her grandmother
• Mary Cassatt, American painter and printmaker
• William Castle, American film figjure, orphaned at age 11
• Henry Darger, American writer and artist (whose work focused on orphans), orphaned at age 13.
• Tommy Davidson, American comedian, orphaned as infant
• James Dean, American actor
• Benicio del Toro, Puerto Rican actor
• Cecil B. DeMille, American filmmaker
• Jane Fonda, American actress, writer, political activist and fitness guru
• Clark Gable, American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood" or just simply as "The King"
• Ava Gardner, American actress and singer
• John Garfield, American actor
• Judy Garland, American actress, singer and vaudevillian
• Bill Graham, German-American impresario and rock concert promoter
• D. W. Griffith, American film director, writer, and producer
• Gene Hackman, American actor and novelist
• Oliver Hardy, American actor of Laurel and Hardy
• Mariska Hargitay, American actress
• Ice-T, American rapper and actor, rapper, orphaned at age 12
• Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and musician
• Veronica Lake, American film, stage, and television actress
• Art Linkletter, Canadian-born American radio and television personality and entertainer, abandoned as an infant
• Ray Liotta, American actor, film producer and voice actor, adopted at 6 months
• George Lopez, American comedian, raised by a grandmother
• Myrna Loy, American film, television and stage actress
• Lee Majors, American film, television and voice actor, orphaned at age 2 & raised by aunt and uncle
• Jayne Mansfield, American actress in film, theatre, television and Playboy Playmates
• Jayne Marie Mansfield, Playboy nude model
• Frances McDormand, American actress, adopted as an infant
• Marilyn Monroe, entertainer, raised in foster care
• Eddie Murphy, American comedian, actor, writer, singer and producer
• Steve Oedekerk, American comedian and film producer, adopted as an infant
• Mary Pickford, Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer
• Priscilla Presley, American actress and entrepreneur
• Kelly Preston, American actress
• Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born American actor, painter and writer
• Julia Roberts, American actress and producer
• Jane Russell, American film actress and one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols
• Gene Siskel, American film critic, orphaned at age 9
• Barbara Stanwyck, American actress, raised in foster homes from age 2
• Barbra Streisand, American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker
• Lana Turner, American actress
• Andy Warhol, American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art
• Orson Welles, American actor and director, orphaned at age 15

South America

• Ivian Sarcos, Miss World 2011, orphaned at age 8

Africa

• Eusébio, Portuguese footballer who played as a striker and first world-class African-born players
• Guor Marial, Olympic runner, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
• Victor Moses, professional footballer
• Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, African triathlete and advocate for the rights of the disabled

Asia

• Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion
• Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, captain of the India national cricket team for the tour to England in 1946
• Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team

Australia

• Layne Beachley, Australian surfer, she won the World Championship
• Jason Day, Australian professional golfer and PGA Tour member
• Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete, and the 1936 Olympic champion
• Wendell Sailor, Australian former professional rugby football player

Europe

• Alberto Ascari, Italian racing driver and twice Formula One World Champion
• Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian former competitive figure skater, World and Olymbic champion
• Franco Baresi, Italian professional football player and coach
• Johan Cruyff, Dutch professional football player and coach
• Moritz Fürste, German field hockey player, Olymbic champion 2008 and 2012
• James Mason, Irish-born chess player, journalist and writer
• Paavo Nurmi, Finnish middle- and long-distance runner
• Jochen Rindt, racing driver, the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One
• Daley Thompson, English former decathlete, Olympic, World- and Europeanchampion

North America

• Simone Biles, American Olympic gymnast, adopted by her grandparents
• Steve Van Buren, professional American football halfback
• Scott Hamilton, figure skater, adopted as an infant
• Aaron Hernandez, American football tight end and convicted murderer
• Carlin Isles, American rugby star, adopted at age 8
• Lopez Lomong, U.S. Olympic track star, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
• Greg Louganis, American Olympic diver, adopted as an infant
• Karl Malone, American basketball player
• Billy Mills, American Olympic runner, orphaned at age 12
• Babe Ruth, American baseball star, raised in an orphanage
• Jim Thorpe, American multi-sport Olympic and professional athlete, orphaned as a teen
• Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian professional auto racing driver

South America

• Gustavo Kuerten, tennis player from Brazil, nickname as Guga, is a retired World No. 1
• Rivaldo, Brazilian former professional footballer

Africa

• Maud Chifamba, the youngest university student in Africa, orphaned at age 14
• Ibn Khaldun, North African Arab historiographer and historian

Europe

Marie Curie

Charles Darwin

Irène Joliot-Curie

• Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician, abandoned as an infant
• Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and one of the founders of modern chemistry
• Elizabeth Blackwell, British-born physician
• Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher
• Max Born, German physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics
• Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor
• Henry Cavendish, British natural philosopher, scientist, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist
• Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish 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
• Charles Darwin, English scientist
• René Descartes, French philosopher and polymath
• Arthur Eddington, English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician
• Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician
• Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist
• 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
• James Hutton, Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist
• Edward Jenner, English physician and scientist, who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine
• Irène Joliot-Curie, French scientist second woman to win a Nobel Prize
• Immanuel Kant, German philosopher who is considered the central figure of modern philosophy
• Johannes Kepler, German scientist, raised by grandmother
• Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist and father of modern chemistry
• Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch tradesman and scientist
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German polymath and philosopher
• Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics
• Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine
• James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics
• John McDouall Stuart, Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers
• Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor
• Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator
• Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician

George Washington Carver

Linus Pauling

• Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, writer, and linguist
• Richard Owen, English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist
• Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher
• André Patry, French astronomer and discoverer of 9 minor planets in the late 1930s
• Emmi Pikler, Hungarian pediatrician and infant-education theorist
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, raised by aunt and uncle
• Arthur Rudolph, German rocket engineer
• Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, orphaned at age 3
• Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, writer, and activist
• Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
• Adam Smith, Scottish moral philosopher and pioneer of political economy
• Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin
• Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher
• Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, physiologist, philosopher, and professor

North America

• John Bardeen, American physicist and electrical engineer
• George Washington Carver, American scientist, inventor, orphaned while a slave
• Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist
• Linus Pauling, American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator
• Percy Spencer, American inventor, orphaned in childhood
• Robert Taylor, American internet pioneer, adopted at age 28 days

Asia

• Ian Karan, Tamil German businessman and politician

Europe

Christine Lagarde

• Roman Abramovich, Russian businessman and politician
• Gianni Agnelli, Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat
• Anthony Bacon, British iron pioneer
• Karl Benz, German engine designer and automobile engineer
• André Citroën, French industrialist and freemason
• Thomas Cook, English founded the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son
• Jakob Fugger, German major merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker of Europe
• Christine Lagarde, French Managing Director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund
• Wilhelm Maybach, German engine designer and industrialist

Jenna Jameson

Steve Jobs

• Rudolf August Oetker, German entrepreneur
• Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
• Mary Portas, English retail consultant, and broadcaster, orphaned at age 18
• Vidal Sassoon, British beauty products magnate, placed in an orphanage at age 7
• Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and aircraft manufacturer

North America

• Arthur E. Andersen, American accounting firm founder, orphaned as a teen
• L.L. Bean, American retail catalog magnate, orphaned at age 12
• William Boeing, American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company
• Adolph Coors, German American brewer who founded the Adolph Coors Company
• August Duesenberg and Fred Duesenberg, German-born American automobile pioneers, designers, manufacturers and sportsmen
• Henry Ford, American founder of Ford Motor Company
• Samuel Goldwyn, American film mogul, raised by relatives
• John Hancock, American merchant, statesman and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution
• Howard Hughes, American entrepreneur
• Jenna Jameson, American entrepreneur, webcam model and former pornographic film actress
• Steve Jobs, American Apple Computer founder, adopted as infant
• Howard Lutnick, American CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, orphaned as a teen
• Tom Monaghan, American Domino's Pizza founder, partially raised in an orphanage
• Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
• Levi Strauss, American Jewish businessman
• Dave Thomas, American Wendy's entrepreneur adoption advocate, adopted as an infant
• Jerry Yang, Taiwanese American Internet entrepreneur and programmer

Asia

• Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda
• Kanō Jigorō, Japanese educator and athlete, the founder of Judo
• Oda Nobunaga, powerful daimyō of Japan
• Zofia Potocka, Greek slave courtesan and a Russian agent, later a Polish noble
• Swami Rama, Indian yógī
• Kazuo Taoka, one of the most prominent yakuza godfathers
• Minamoto no Yoshitomo, head of the Minamoto clan and a general of Japanese history
• Minamoto no Yoshitsune, nobleman and military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan
• Lu Yu, ancient author of The Classic of Tea

Truganini

Australia

• Truganini, Aboriginal Tasmanian

Europe

Horatio Nelson

Grigori Rasputin

Valentina Tereshkova

John F. Kennedy Jr.

Annie Oakley

• Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer
• Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, British Army officer, founder and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association
• William Blackstone, English jurist and political figure
• George Blake, British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union
• William Bligh, British Royal Navy, command of HMS Bounty, Governor of New South Wales in Australia and a colonial administrator
• Martin Bormann, prominent official in Nazi Germany as head of the Nazi Party Chancellery
• Johann Friedrich Böttger, German alchemist and the first European to discover the secret of the creation of hard-paste porcelain
• Guy Burgess, British radio producer, intelligence officer and Foreign Office official
• William Dampier, Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia and pirate
• Karl Dönitz,German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II
• Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) and one of the major organisers of the Holocaust
• Prince Eugene of Savoy, general of the Imperial Army and one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history
• Guy Fawkes, known as Guido Fawkes, member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot
• Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights
• Hermann Gmeiner, Austrian philanthropist and the founder of SOS Children's Villages
• Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I
• Kaspar Hauser, German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell
• Rudolf Höss, Nazi German SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) and the longest-serving commandant of Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in World War II
• Wilhelm Keitel, German field marshal who served as chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, the OKW) for most of World War II
• Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer of aviation
• Luigi Lucheni, Italian anarchist who assassinated the Austrian Empress, Elisabeth
• Louis Philippe II, Colonel General (France) and member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon
• Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer
• John McDouall Stuart, Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers
• Erich Mielke, head of the East German Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatsicherheit), better known as the Stasi
• Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British flag officer in the Royal Navy
• Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer
• Elisabeth Petznek, nicknamed "The Red Archduchess"
• Albert Pierrepoint, hangman in England
• Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favourite of Catherine the Great
• Joseph Priestley, English theologian, English Dissenters clergyman, multi-subject educator
• Grigori Rasputin, Russian peasant and mystical faith healer
• Johann Philipp Reis, German scientist and inventor, he constructed the first make-and-break telephone
• Salvatore Riina, chief of the Sicilian Mafia
• Hartmann Schedel, German physician, humanist, historian, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press
• Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist
• Richard Sorge, Soviet military intelligence officer during World War II
• Valentina Tereshkova, Russian cosmonaut and the first woman to have flown in space
• Victor of Aveyron, French feral child
• Minik Wallace, Inuk anthropology subject
• Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian
• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Field Marshal

North America

• Dieter Dengler, United States Navy aviator
• Genie, pseudonym for a feral child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social isolation
• Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector and bohemian socialite
• Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout
• Caroline Kennedy, American author, attorney, diplomat and her brother John F. Kennedy Jr., American lawyer and journalist
• Billy the Kid, American Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War
• Robert E. Lee, American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War
• Jim Lovell, former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy
• James Naismith, Canadian-American, inventor of basketball
• Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter
• Lee Harvey Oswald, American former U.S. Marine who assassinated President John F. Kennedy
• Bonnie Parker, American criminal
• Robert Peary, American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole
• Sager orphans, twice-orphaned American settlers
• Raphael Semmes, officer in the Confederate navy during the American Civil War
• William Tecumseh Sherman, American soldier, businessman, educator and author
• James West, Scouting leader, raised in an orphanage
• Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer
• Pancho Villa, Mexican Revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution
• Nikolas Cruz, perpetrator of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting

South America

• Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy.
• João Havelange, Brazilian lawyer, businessman, and athlete who served as the seventh President of FIFA
• Tiradentes, hero of Brazil and patron of the Military Police

In literature

• Frodo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings
• Bambi
• Batman & Robin
• Curious George
• 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
• Moll Flanders
• Dorothy Gale, Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights
• Heidi
• Tom Jones
• Kim
• Krabat
• A Little Princess
• Pippi Longstocking
• Stephen Maturin, Master and Commander
• Momo
• Mowgli
• Baron Munchausen,
• Nellie O'Malley, American Girl Dolls series
• Pip, Great Expectations
• Pollyanna
• Harry Potter
• Quasimodo
• Tom Sawyer
• Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables
• Snow White
• Rosa Esposto, heroine of The Lady of the Wheel
• The Star Money
• Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire
• Tarzan
• Oliver Twist
• Lord Voldemort
• Doctor Zhivago,

In popular culture

Kung Fu Panda

Spider-Man

• Allen Walker, (D.Gray-man)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist
• Batman and Robin
• Cagalli Yula Athha, (Mobile Suit Gundam SEED)
• Carnage
• Char Aznable, Mobile Suit Gundam
• Cyclops
• Ezra Bridger, (Star Wars Rebels)
• Erin Hannon, The Office
• Evey Hammond, V for Vendetta
• Fanboy and Chum Chum, (Fanboy & Chum Chum), (Presumed orphans)
• Fatmagül Ketenci Ilgaz
• Finn the Human, (Adventure Time)
• Firebrand, (Ghosts 'n Goblins series)
• Fox McCloud, Star Fox (series)
• Gaara, (Naruto)
• Gintoki Sakata, (Gin Tama)
• Goku, Dragon Ball
• Himura Kenshin, Rurouni Kenshin
• Inuyasha (character), Inuyasha
• Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Shippūden
• James Bond
• Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star
• Kit Cloudkicker TaleSpin
• Lacus Clyne, Gundam franchise
• Little Orphan Annie
• Magneto
• Misa Amane, (Death Note)
• Misty, Pokémon franchise
• Motoko Kusanagi
• Mukuro Rokudo, Reborn!
• Myōjin Yahiko. Rurouni Kenshin
• Nami, One Piece franchise
• Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
• Nunnally Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
• Orihime Inoue, Bleach
• Orochimaru, Naruto
• Paddington Bear
• Phoenix Ikki, Saint Seiya
• Po the panda.
• Punky Brewster,
• Raiden
• Rolo Lamperouge, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
• Rukia Kuchiki, Bleach
• Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon
• Santa Claus, Father Christmas, and other personifications of the orphaned Saint Nicholas
• Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto
• Shinn Asuka, (Gundam (franchise))
• Sly Cooper, (Sly Cooper)
• Snow White
• Sookie Stackhouse
• Spider-Man
• Storm
• Superman
• Suzaku Kururugi, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
• The Warden, Superjail!
• Tohru Honda, Fruits Basket
• Upin & Ipin
• Vash the Stampede, Trigun
• Wolverine
• Yotsuba Koiwai, Yotsuba&!
• Cha-Siu, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat
• Rara Chasm, Raya100