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