Shapiro, and its variations such as Shapira, Schapiro, Schapira, Sapir, Sapira, Spira, Spiro, Sapiro, Szapiro/Szpiro (in Polish) and Chapiro (in French), is a Jewish Ashkenazi surname.
The surname is derived from the medieval name of Speyer, Germany,[1][2] compare Spire, the French name for that city. Other name variants attributed to Speyer include Sapiro, Spira, Spire, Spiro, Spero, Chapiro, Sprai, Szpir, Szpiro, Sapir and Spear.[3] The Jewish community of Speyer was one of three leading cities central to the development of Ashkenazi culture, referred to as the ShUM-cities, an acronym based on the names of the cities. The family name Speyer (based on the modern German name for the same city) has also become a well-known surname that was spread by Jews from Frankfurt to England, the United States and Canada in the late 19th and early 20th century.