Spira (name)

Spira is a surname with a variety of origins. In Germany, the surname Spira originated as a corruption of Speyer, the name of a town in the Rhineland. It is one of a number of Jewish surnames that originated this way, along with the better-known Shapiro. Notable people with this name include:

Surname

• Camilla Spira (1906–1997), German film actress
• Chaim Elazar Spira (1868–1937), Polish Orthodox rabbi
• Elijah Spira (1660–1712), Czech rabbi
• Ella Spira, English composer
• Fred Spira (1924–2007), American photography innovator
• Fritz Spira (1881–1943), Austrian actor
• Harry Spira (died c. 2009), Australian veterinarian
• Henry Spira (1927–1988), animal rights activist
• Howard Spira (born 1959), American gambler and mobster
• Joel Spira (born 1981), Swedish actor
• Joel Spira (businessman) (1927–2015), American inventor and businessman
• Jonathan Spira (born 1961), American researcher and industry analyst
• Julie Spira, American author and media personality
• Lotte Spira (1883–1943), German actress
• Michael Spira (born 1944), British medical doctor
• Nathan Nata Spira (1585–1633), Polish rabbi and kabbalist
• Phyllis Spira (1943–2008), South African ballet dancer
• Rupert Spira (born 1960), English studio potter
• Steffie Spira (1908–1995), Austrian-born German actress
• Thomas Spira (1923–2005), Canadian historian
• Yisroel Spira (1889–1989), Polish-American rabbi

Given name

• Spira Grujić (born 1971), Serbian football defender

See also

• Spyra
• Spera
• Spiro (name)
• Spira (car)
• Spira Culture Center
• Shapiro, main article on Ashkenazi surname having Spira as a variant
• Jewish surname