Entry № 1946 · Powhatan origin

Pocahontas Pocahontas — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ poh-kah-HON-tas /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Powhatan
Meaning
"Playful one (Powhatan princess and English diplomat)"
Syllables
4
Rank · US 2025
№ 0
First recorded
Modern (Powhatan)

A name that means "playful one (powhatan princess and english diplomat)".

Pocahontas (Powhatan, "playful one, ill-behaved child") was the **personal name of Matoaka, daughter of Chief Powhatan of the Tsenacommacah confederacy in what is now Virginia**. **Most famous for the disputed account that she saved the life of English colonist John Smith in 1607** — captured by the English in 1613, baptized Rebecca, married tobacco planter John Rolfe in 1614, and traveled to London where she was presented at court. **Died at age 21 in Gravesend, England** while preparing to return home; her descendants include the First Families of Virginia.

Subject of Disney's *Pocahontas* (1995) and Camilla Townsend's *Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma* (2004).

Playful one. Powhatan princess presented at the English court; died at twenty-one in Gravesend.

The name in its native script.

Pocahontas
Transliteration
Pocahontas
Pronunciation
/ ˌpoʊ.kəˈhɒn.təs /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Pocahontas stands.

Current rank · 2025
№ 0 in the U.S.
All-time peak
№ 0 in 0
Babies named Pocahontas · last year
87 in the U.S.
First entered SSA top-1000
0
Rank, 1995–2025 Lower = more popular
№25 №75 №150 №250 1995 2005 2015 2020 2025 PEAK · — NOW · —

Pocahontass before her.

Real people
Pocahontas
Powhatan princess.
c. 1596 – 1617
In fiction
Pocahontas
Disney's Pocahontas.
1995

Names connected to Pocahontas.

The number behind Pocahontas.

8

The Authority

Pocahontas reduces to eight — the number of Powhatan princess.

Why families chose this name.

"Powhatan playful one. Ten letters. Pocahontas."
Catherine · Mother of one · Tsenacommacah