Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from an agent derivative of Middle English (e)spi(en) ‘to watch’, hence an occupational name for a lookout or watchman, or a nickname for a nosy person.
  • Scottish : variant spelling of Spear.
  • German : nickname for a small person, from Middle Low German spīr ‘trifle’, ‘small piece’.
  • German : habitational name from any of several places named Spier, notably the city in the Palatinate, now spelled Speyer (see Speyer, Spiering).
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : variant of Spiro.