This is the Story of What Happened to the Real Pocahontas

In Powhatan culture, a girl’s 14th year marked an essential rite of passage: a coming-of-age ceremony that celebrated her transition into womanhood. As part of the ritual, she was given the right to select a new name—one that reflected her identity and spirit.

It was during this moment that the young girl chose to be called Pocahontas, a name meaning “playful one,” which she felt embodied who she truly was. Not long after claiming her new identity, she entered into marriage with a young warrior named Kocom, marking the beginning of a chapter in her life that was largely erased from later retellings.