List of orphans and foundlings

• Aandaal, Tamil saint, found in a temple garden.
• Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, orphaned in early childhood.
• Cyrus the Great, Persian emperor, orphaned in childhood.
• Oedipus, mythical Greek king, abandoned on a mountain.
• Moses, major prophet in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, orphaned as an infant.
• Muhammad, central figure in Islam, orphaned at age 6.
• Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children, orphaned early in childhood.
• Romulus and Remus, traditional founders of ancient Rome, orphaned in infancy.

• Simón Bolívar, Latin American independence leader, orphaned at age 8.
• John Church, clergyman, found as a toddler and sent to the Foundling Hospital.
• Peter Francisco, soldier, found on a Virginia dock as a young child.
• Mariano Gálvez, Guatemalan Chief of State in the 1830s, foundling adopted and raised by Gálvez family.
• Alexander Hamilton, U.S. founding father, orphaned at age 13.
• Ben W. Hooper, governor of Tennessee, 1911 to 1915, raised in an orphanage.
• Herbert Hoover, U.S. president, orphaned at age 9.
• Ivan IV of Russia, Russian ruler, orphaned at age 8.
• Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, orphaned at age 14.
• Edward Langworthy, U.S. patriot and founding father, raised in an orphanage.
• Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, raised as a ward.
• Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady, civil-rights activist, orphaned at age 10.
• Bertrand Russell, political philosopher, orphaned at age 3.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, political philosopher, raised by aunt and uncle.
• Tecumseh, Native American leader, orphaned as a child.
• Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, former Iowa governor, adopted at birth.
• James West, first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, raised in an orphanage.
• Malcolm X, political and civil rights activist, raised in an orphanage and foster care.

• Edward Albee, playwright, adopted as an infant.
• John Keats, poet, raised partly by his grandmother.
• W. Somerset Maugham, author, orphaned in childhood.
• Andy McNab, soldier and novelist, found as a baby on the steps of Guy's Hospital.
• James A. Michener, author, abandoned as an infant.
• Edgar Allan Poe, author, orphaned in childhood.
• Jean Racine, French playwright, orphaned at age 4.
• J. R. R. Tolkien, author, orphaned at age 12.
• Leo Tolstoy, author, orphaned at age 9.
• Henry Morton Stanley, journalist, explorer, raised in a workhouse.
• Dale Wasserman, playwright, orphaned at age 9.
• William Wordsworth, poet, orphaned at age 12.

• Louis Armstrong, musician, raised in an orphanage and by his grandmother.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, composer, orphaned at age 9.
• Ray Charles, singer, orphaned at age 15.
• Ella Fitzgerald, singer, orphaned in childhood.
• James Hetfield, singer, ophaned by cancer at 16.
• Faith Hill, singer, adopted as an infant.
• Billie Holiday, singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood.
• John Lennon, musician, raised by his aunt and uncle.
• Trent Reznor, orphaned when parents abandoned him at age 5 and raised by grandparents.
• Bessie Smith, singer, orphaned at age 9.

• Tallulah Bankhead, actress, orphaned as an infant.
• Ingrid Bergman, actress, orphaned at age 12.
• Carol Burnett, entertainer, raised by her grandmother.
• Henry Darger, artist whose work focused on orphans.
• Ice-T, actor, rapper, orphaned aged 9.
• Juliette Drouet, actress, orphaned in childhood.
• Samuel Goldwyn, film mogul, raised by relatives.
• Art Linkletter, entertainer, abandoned as an infant.
• George Lopez, comedian, raised by a grandmother.
• Frances McDormand, best actress Academy Award winner, adopted as an infant.
• Marilyn Monroe, entertainer, raised in foster care.
• Barbara Stanwyck, actress, raised in foster homes from age 2.

• Scott Hamilton, figure skater, adopted as an infant.
• Billy Mills, Olympic runner, orphaned at age 12.
• 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.

• Arthur E. Andersen, founder of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, orphaned as a teen.
• Anthony Bacon, helped found the British iron industry.
• George Washington Carver, scientist, inventor, orphaned while a slave.
• Jean le Rond d'Alembert, mathematician, illegitimate child of Claudine Guérin de Tencin and Louis-Camus Destouches abandoned as a baby.
• Johannes Kepler, scientist, raised by grandmother.
• Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, adopted as an infant.
• Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, partially raised in an orphanage.
• Percy Spencer, inventor, orphaned in childhood.
• Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's restaurants, adopted as an infant, adoption advocate.

See also Category:Fictional orphans

• Anastasia
• Anya
• Anne of Green Gables
• Baudelaire siblings of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books
• Cinderella
• David Copperfield
• Sarah Crewe in A Little Princess
• Jane Eyre
• Huckleberry Finn
• Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights
• Heidi
• Sherlock Holmes
• Miss Honey in Matilda
• Tom Jones
• Pippi Longstocking
• Madeline
• Mowgli of The Jungle Book
• Natty Bumppo, a.k.a. “Hawkeye”
• Peter Pan
• Pip of Great Expectations
• Pollyanna
• Harry Potter
• Snow White
• Tom Sawyer
• Tarzan
• Treat and Phillip from the Lyle Kessler play Orphans
• Oliver Twist

• Little Orphan Annie
• Batman
• James Bond
• Punky Brewster
• Mamoru Chiba
• Daredevil
• Evey
• Gray Fox
• The Green Hornet
• Iron Man
• The Lone Ranger
• Popeye and Swee'Pea
• Raiden
• Robin
• Santa Claus (based on Saint Nicholas)
• Sookie Stackhouse
• Luke Skywalker
• Samus Aran
• Storm
• Superman
• Tohru Honda
• Wolverine

See also Category:Adoptees for lists of notable people who have been adopted (including by step-parents): most adoptees are neither orphans nor foundlings. ^{[citation needed]}