F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, the literary lion of the Roaring Twenties, penned some of America's most enduring novels, including The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night. He perfectly embodied the flapper era's excess and eventual crash, a life story as dramatic as any of his fictional creations. Despite the name's classic sound, there's no hidden ancestral twist here; his lineage was firmly rooted in Irish and English Catholic and Protestant traditions. So much for finding a secret menorah in the Hamptons.

Fitzgerald himself was raised Catholic, although his practice varied throughout his life, tending more towards a cultural Catholicism than fervent devotion. He never identified as Jewish, nor did he participate in Jewish community life. In fact, his characterization of Jews in some of his works, while a product of his time, certainly didn't lean towards philosemitism.

While his literary achievements undoubtedly brought nachas to millions of readers (and likely many kvelling Jewish literary critics), it's purely on the merits of his prose, not his heritage. He remains a titan of American literature, forever linked to an era he both celebrated and critiqued, utterly Jew-free.