# Shapiro (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shapiro/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Yiddish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Yiddish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 24,335 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,469 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 12,687 people |
| Change since 2000 | -1.5% (24,712 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ʃəˈpɪɹoʊ/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Sapiro, Schapira, Schapiro, Shapeero, Shapero, Shapera, Shapira, Szpiro, Szapiro, Sapir |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שאַפּיראָ (shapiro). This surname is derived from the Medieval name of Speyer, Germany (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. The Jewish community of Speyer was one of three leading cities central to the development of Ashkenazi culture, the others being Worms and Mainz. 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. Some suggest that the surname derives from the Aramaic word שפירא (Shappirā), meaning "handsome."

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shapiro in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 96% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shapiro in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Shapiro

- Ben Shapiro, American conservative political commentator
- Josh Shapiro, American politician (born 1973)
- Lucy Shapiro, American developmental biologist
- Irwin I. Shapiro, American astrophysicist
- Theodore Shapiro, American composer (born 1971)
- Beth Shapiro, American evolutionary molecular biologist (born 1976)
- Francine Shapiro, American psychologist (1948–2019)
- Robert Leslie Shapiro, American lawyer (1942-)
- Karl Shapiro, American poet and essayist (1913-2000)
- Joel Shapiro, American sculptor (1941–2025)
- Michael Shapiro, American film and voice actor
- Ian Shapiro, American political theorist

and 11 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Shafer, Shaver, Spahr, Schaper, Spiro, Schapiro, Shaffer, Schaefer, Schafer, Schaffer, Schaeffer, Spear.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.