Croia: Meaning, Pronunciation and Origin
Croia is an Irish girl's name meaning “heart.” Here’s how to say it, where it comes from, and names that go well with it.
Updated September 2026
- Irish spelling
- Croía
- Meaning
- Heart
- Gender
- Girl
- Also spelled
- Croíadh
- Popularity in Ireland
- No. 9 for girls (2025)
How do you pronounce Croia?
Croia is pronounced KREE-a. It has two syllables, with the stress on the first. Other spellings: Croíadh.
What does Croia mean?
Croía comes from croí, the Irish word for “heart.” It is a new name rather than an old one. Croía is not itself a word in Irish; it was formed from croí in recent years.
The name drew wide attention in 2019, when the mixed martial artist Conor McGregor gave it to his daughter. It is sometimes said to mean “little heart,” but it has no diminutive ending; Irish marks “little” with -ín, as in Róisín. Other spellings in use include Croia and Croíadh.
Sources: Behind the Name, Wikipedia, en.wiktionary.org.
How popular is Croia in Ireland?
In 2025, 211 baby girls in Ireland were named Croía, which made it No. 9 that year. Another 8 were registered as Croia or Croìa. That's up from No. 581 ten years earlier. It first appears in the records in 2010, with 4 baby girls.
See the numbers by year
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 219 | No. 9 (Croía) |
| 2024 | 188 | No. 16 (Croía) |
| 2023 | 169 | No. 23 (Croía) |
| 2022 | 145 | No. 38 (Croía) |
| 2021 | 119 | No. 52 (Croía) |
| 2020 | 61 | No. 95 (Croía) |
| 2019 | 32 | No. 162 (Croía) |
| 2018 | 18 | No. 255 (Croía) |
| 2017 | 8 | No. 471 (Croia) |
| 2016 | 6 | No. 585 (Croia) |
| 2015 | 6 | No. 581 (Croia) |
| 2014 | 6 | No. 584 (Croia) |
| 2013 | 9 | No. 459 (Croia) |
| 2011 | 3 | No. 937 (Croia) |
| 2010 | 4 | No. 758 (Croia) |
Croia in Ogham
Ogham is the oldest way of writing Irish. It was carved along the edges of standing stones, mostly between the 4th and 6th centuries, and read from the bottom up. In later tradition each letter was named after a tree or plant. Here’s Croia, letter by letter.
- CColl, hazel
- RRuis, elder
- OOnn, gorse
- IIodhadh, yew
- AAilm, pine
Write any name in Ogham with our Ogham translator
Names that go with Croia
Questions about Croia
- How do you pronounce Croia?
- Croia is pronounced KREE-a. Two syllables, stress on the first.
- What does Croia mean?
- Croia means “heart.”
- Is Croia a girl's name or a boy's name?
- Croia is a girl's name.
- How do you spell Croia in Irish?
- In Irish it's spelled Croía. That's the spelling most parents in Ireland now register, according to the Central Statistics Office.
- How popular is Croia in Ireland?
- In 2025, Croía was No. 9 for girls in Ireland, with 211 babies, according to the Central Statistics Office. That's the highest it has ever ranked.