Who really was Pocahontas? Was she like the Indian girl in the Disney movie, who saved her reservation? Yes and no. She was an Indian of the Algonquian Indians. Her father was Powhatan, the chief. Her original name, however was in fact, Matoaka. But Pocahontas mean "playful, frolicsome little girl" and so they nicknamed her that. The meeting and capturing of her acquaintance, and possible first love, John Smith, was in fact true. But, the saving of him may be as made up and make believe as the movie. Many people speculate the authenticity of the "execution and salvation" story, told by Smith. Supposedly, Smith’s Englishmen