The authors agree that this surname is of Greek origin, derived from the term that designates meat. G. Rohlfs specifies that it comes from the Grecanic dialect of the Bova area —in Calabria—, where crèa means "meat", a form that refers to the Greek κρέας. Rohlfs notes that the surname is present throughout Calabria and also in Sicily, and considers it a sample of the survival of the Greek lexicon in Calabrian onomastics.

P. Durante agrees on the Greek origin and on the meaning of "meat", although without adding additional geographical or formal details. V. Blunda, for his part, records the form crèas as the Greek etymon and proposes two possible motivations for its adoption as a surname: a professional nickname applied to the butcher, or a nickname referring to the corpulence of an ancestor. Blunda also notes the existence of parallel forms such as Creati and Creazzo.