Croft as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Croft

What is the meaning of the name Croft ?

The baby name Croft is a Male name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced UK: /krɒft/ US: /krɑːft/ (one syllable, rhymes with "loft").

Croft is English in Origin.

Croft is an English and Scots surname-turned-given name, rooted in Old English croft, meaning “small enclosed field” or “smallholding near a dwelling.” The term is widespread in northern England and Scotland, where crofting became a distinctive pattern of small-scale tenant farming. As a byname and then hereditary surname, it appears in medieval records as atte Crofte or de la Croft, referring to someone who lived by or worked such a plot.

As a first name, Croft rose with the modern fashion for crisp, place-based surnames, remaining rare but noted from the late 20th century onward in the UK, US, and Australia. It is used mostly for boys but has occasional unisex appeal. Variants and related forms include Crofts, Crofton (“town by the croft”), and the spelling Kroft. The core meaning evokes self-reliance and rural heritage, offering a spare, outdoorsy sound and a strong single-syllable profile.

⚙ Croft is an extremely rare name. Across our dataset of national birth registries and international name records, Croft appears only 19 times in total — found in 14 countries. If you're considering it, you'd be giving your child a name almost nobody else has.