Spira

Spira, Spiro, SchPIRA, Schapiro etc. is a common surname among Jews, who, it is believed, most of the medieval name of city of Speyer in Rhineland -Palatinate, latin Spira, Hebrew שפירא [ ʃpi ː ra ] back.

Speyer, one of the three so-called SCHUM cities, played in the Middle Ages an important role in Ashkenazi Judaism, and from the Jewish community of Speyer emerged many Jewish scholars. Jewish families took the name Spira in many variations and spellings or added it to their name. In addition to Spira and Spiro example Schapira / Shapira, Schapiro / Shapiro, Szpira / Szpiro, Spier, possibly Safir / Sapir. Among German Jews the name " Speyer " was common, especially in Frankfurt.

Through migration and displacement, the name has spread first in Eastern Europe, in Bohemia, Galicia and Poland - Lithuania, and then in the course of emigration movements of Central and Eastern European Jews worldwide.

Well-known bearers of the name

  • Aaron Simeon Spira - Wedeles (1640-1679), rabbinic authority
  • Andreas Spira (1929-2004), German classical scholar
  • Bil Spira (1913-1999), Austrian cartoonist
  • Camilla Spira (1906-1997), German actress
  • David Spiro (1901-1970), rabbi
  • Elizabeth T. Spira (* 1942), Austrian journalist
  • Ernst Spiro (1873-1950), German railway engineer
  • Eugene Spiro ( Eugen Spiro; 1874-1972 ), German - American painter
  • Françoise Spira (1928-1965), French film and theater actress
  • Fred Spira (1924-2007), Austrian pioneer photo
  • Friedrich Spiro (1863-1940), German philologist and classical musicologist
  • Fritz Spira (1877-1943), Austrian actor
  • Georges Spiro (1909-1984), Polish- French painter
  • Gregor Vogt- Spira (* 1956), German philologist Classic
  • György Spiro ( born 1946 ), Hungarian writer and playwright
  • Henry Spira (1927-1998), Belgian -American animal rights activist
  • Karl Spiro (1867-1932), German physicist
  • Leopold Spira (1913-1997), Austrian journalist and political writer
  • Lotte Spira (1883-1943), German actress
  • Mela Spira (1893-1967), Austrian actress and writer
  • Melford Spiro (* 1920), American cultural anthropologist
  • Steffie Spira (1908-1995), German actress
  • Theodor Spira (1885-1961), German Anglist
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