He was the second son of Scipio Africanus, but despite this illustrious background, his career was cut short by his demotion from the senate by the censors in 174 BC.
His father was Scipio Africanus, the famous general who defeated Hannibal during the Second Punic War, and his mother Aemilia Tertia.
Lucius was born before 213, because he must have had at least 38 years old when he became praetor in 174, according the lex Villia, which set minimum ages for holding magistracies.
[1] Lucius had one elder brother, Publius Cornelius Scipio, born before 214, who did not embark on a political career, and two sisters: Cornelia, who married her cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, and Cornelia, who married Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus.
In his Ab Urbe Condita, the historian Livy wrote Lucius, but Valerius Maximus used Gnaeus.