Yes it is true. And before the new bills came, we a value unit which was called URV: "unidade real de valor" which is portuguese for "Unity of real value".

Source:

"Por que o 'real' ganhou esse nome? Por que ele matava dois coelhos também. Tem fundo histórico, já que é o nome da moeda anterior ao cruzeiro, e remete à ideia de uma moeda com 'valor real'."[1]

Translation: How 'real' got its name? Two birds in one stone. There's also a historic background, since it is the name of the currency befrore cruzeiro and brings the idea of a currency with 'real value'".

[1] https://super.abril.com.br/coluna/oraculo/por-que-a-moeda-br...

The currency was named "real" as in "royal", not as in "actual". And it was what the Portuguese and later Brazilian currency was called from the 1400s until the 20th century. (or at least that's the actual etymology of the currency, even though "real" does also mean "actual" in portuguese now.)

This is really true. Renaming the currency did actually help to stabilize the inflation spiral.