Talk:Shapiro

Name Etymology and Origins

Your article says that the surname "Shapiro" derives from a German town "Speyer" [There is a name - Speyer or Speir]. Shapiro, correctly SHAPIRA, is the Aramaic word for "beauty", and was the name of the capital of the Gallilee in Roman times. It is also the origin of the English word "sapphire", and originally meant lapis lazuli. The name shows up a a given name for a woman in the Christian Bible "Sapphira" and is also found as an Arabic surname, usually as "Safoury".
Norman Shapiro (nshapiro@warwick.net)
--unsigned by 208.228.103.158 at 02:38 CEST, 13 July 2006

Is there any way we could change this to reflect that 'Shapira' is the older spelling? 'Shapiro' is a variant of 'Shapira', not the other way around. On the other hand, 'Shapiro' is the most common spelling... (My name is Shapira.) --Ryttu3k 18:47, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Please note that pronunciation here is of utmost importance: the “Shapiro” vs. “Shapira” difference bears a testament, or the crucial time stamp that attests to the origins of this Ashkenazic name and the people. From a minimal, albeit superficial study of Hebrew it should become clear that Ashkenazi Jews originate from a specific area in the land of Israel, and the fact that the original Aramaic and Chaldean pronunciation of the name has it as Shapiro, assigns the history significantly preceding the woeful town in Germany.

--unsigned by User:Bo Basil at 13:19 CET, 12 November 2006

I would also like to see some history of the name in the article. For one thing I was wondering why there seem to be so many lawyers with that name. Steve Dufour 20:36, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

This map seems to show the Shapiro family originating in Morocco, which probably indicates a very early origin, possibly even pre-Christian. But is it true? This map was not specifically intended to relate to the name Shapiro, but rather Cohen, so it could be not entirely accurate. --Soap ^Talk/_{Contributions} 18:37, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Merge

Perhaps this article should get merged into the Spira (family name) article?? The alternate (or even word-associative) etymologies that Norman mentions are very interesting, even if they run outside the documented, mainstream history of this family name. We should look at how this kind of thing gets handled with other family name entries... --Spir 02:46, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I've merged Spira (Spiro) and Shapiro to Spira (family name). —Quarl ^(talk) 2007-02-26 01:29Z

somehow the articles got separated again?? --BjKa (talk) 11:47, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

modern pronunciation variants in the U.S.

Would there be a way to note that there are alternate pronunciations of the name Shapiro? For instance in Philadelphia, PA. It is very common for the name to be pronounced Sha-pie-ro (such that the last two syllables rhyme with high-low). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.158.29.18 (talk) 13:19, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

This is correct-thank you. I am from Philadelphia and pronounce it that way. Nobody can remember that though and it is always pronounced wrong even to the point of argument. I would like to know why there is this difference. Any one know? Sarah Shapiro 2016 pronounced Sha-pie-ro. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:43:101:d87:c521:77c9:dade:b920 (talk) 15:20, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

I'm from Philly and we say it that way in my family as well. 68.83.16.71 (talk) 08:38, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

List of Shapiros

Adding JONATHAN SHAPIRO, the cartoonist

He's a promenent cartoonist in South Africa. He does works for The Mail&Gardian and The SundayTimes, and dare i say he's the country's favourite cartoonist. Any thoughts?
http://www.cartoonist.co.za/zapiro.htm
--User:Cape fox 00:51, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Add SHAPIRO, the american pop-rock band

They are a growing rock band from Harrisonburg, VA. Working with nationally known producer John Mark Painter. They have been touring extensively for over 3 years and have a large fan base on their on.
here are some websites:

• www.shapiropeople.com
• www.myspace.com/shapiro

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Danielwwhite (talk • contribs) 00:22, 3 July 2007

This band was deleted per Criteria for Speedy Deletion, A7: Unremarkable people, groups, companies and web content. Only notable bands are included. --slakr 01:18, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Shapiro is most definately notable. It guess they fall into the crack of Danny Tanner, insanely popular just underground. I remember why people hate wikipedia's speedy deletion policy, and thus wikipedia, now. --^Violask8₁₉₇₆ 01:32, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Adding ROBERT B. SHAPIRO, former CEO of Monsanto

Also instrumental in the development of the Aspartame/NutraSweet artificial sweetener chemical. --unsigned by 194.125.103.23, 14:17, 3 November 2008

"Shapiro" in Jewish humor

Bona fide! My father was in Tammany Hall in the 1940s, and they used to tell this joke, which, like the best Jewish humor, has a point. "The Jews voted for the Jews. The Italians voted for everybody whose name ended in 'o'. And that's how Shapiro got to be Mayor." Rest in peace, Pop, who would have been 100 this November 17th. Profhum (talk) 01:51, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Surname belongs to Sephardic Jews also

The Surname can belong to Sephardic Jews also apart from just Ashkenazi Jews as stated in the article.

See: V. Alkana & P. Michailidis "Surnames from a 3000 name family-tree of Jews from the Island of Rhodes and Turkey," where it lists the surname "Shapiro," saying that these families "are from Rhodes." The Jewish lineage of Rhodes originates in 15th century Spain -- see M. Angel, "The Jews of Rhodes: The History of a Sephardic Community," New York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1978.Blessedhuman111 (talk) 22:00, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Shapiro, which, in this case, is often regarded as 'Spira', may also be distantly linked to the surname Spiro/Spyro, which derived from a Greek surname, Spyropoulos. Many surnames of Greek origin are also Sephardic as well as Romaniote. Shapiro also originated from an Aramaic word Špīrā (Square script: שפירא) meaning "beautiful", which is definitely more likely that it is a direct descendant of this etymology. Lil' Jimmy Da Crinja Ninja (talk) 05:10, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

and that's my origins! You nailed it. My family happened to hit Egypt Jerusalem and Rome as well. We dealt in marble. Thank you for the visibility my friend. My father's mother was (bde) Ashkenazi from Ukraine. They met in Philadelphia. 68.83.16.71 (talk) 08:36, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Multiple origins?

Seems from the article that the names may be conflated from both an Aramaic word (mostly Sephardis?), the town of Speyer (Ashkenazis) and maybe San Pedro (Sephardis). But to untangle this (as far as possible) it needs attention from linguistic experts. 151.177.57.131 (talk) 15:53, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Something not quite right here

What happened to the multiple language links that existed previously (including German, French, Japanese, etc.). They certainly still exist: just look them up under their counterpart entries on other language Wikipedias: German, French, Japanese, Italian, Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian (et al.) incarnations, the links to which once existed here but have now become dissociated as a matter of the database being (correctly) unable to support more that one corresponding entry per wikilink. I'm not sure as to what is going on, but the theories that the surname is a Jewish one (whether Ashkenazi or Sephardi) is based on highly unreliable sources to the point of WP:OR. The fact of a 'surname' being adopted by Jewish ethnics is not the same as it actually being a Jewish name. Shapiro is/was a common name in Eastern Europe (Pale Settlement) amongst Slavs. The Jewish origins has gone from WP:OR theorising to blatantly stating the origin as fact. Remind me again, where are the WP:RS for the surname's origin? The interwiki links need to be repaired and, as there is no certainty as to the origin, the breach of WP:NOR theorising needs to go. Iryna Harpy (talk) 01:53, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

As an addendum, I see that the article has been split, then merged, then split from the Spira (name) article in the past. This would probably go a long way to explaining how the interwiki links are all over the place. I also note that there were comments made regarding there being a massive difference between Shapiro and Shapira, yet this has all become conflated, - albeit certainly in good faith - with copy editor after copy editor fixing the readability of the text presumably without checking the sources. Iryna Harpy (talk) 23:23, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

New merger

I reckon this page should be merged with Schapiro, Shapira and variations, with redirects to the relevant section GiAbTankred (talk) 12:33, 13 February 2022 (UTC)