Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • German and Dutch : from Middle High German, Middle Dutch sper ‘spear’, hence a nickname for a tall, thin person, or else for a skilled user of the hunting spear. In part it may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a maker of spears.
  • German : nickname for someone thought to resemble a sparrow, Middle High German spar(e) ‘sparrow’.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : variant of Speyer.
  • Northern Irish : variant spelling of Speir.