Spiller Family History

English: occupational name from Middle English spiler(e) speler(e) (Old English spilere) ‘player of games jester’ perhaps also meaning ‘master of the revels’. English: perhaps an occupational name from an unrecorded Middle English spiler speler ‘maker of spills’ a derivative of Middle English spile spele ‘fragment of wood splinter’. A spill in this sense was a splinter of wood or small piece of paper used to light a candle or a fire.

English: occasionally perhaps a nickname from Middle English spiller ‘one who causes ruin’ hence a destructive or wasteful person such as William Spillbrede ‘spoil (or waste) bread’ (13th century). However, none of these phrasal names seem to have survived as a surname. English: variant of Speller.

German: occupational name for a spindle maker a variant of Spille with the addition of the agent suffix -er. German: variant of Spieler a cognate of 1 above.

Czech (Špiller): variant of Špillar (see Spillar) a cognate of German Spieler and of Slovenian name in 8 below. In North America the surname Spiller may also be an altered form of the less common Czech variant Špiler.

Americanized form of Slovenian Špiler: occupational name for a player a musician from Middle High German spilære (see Spieler). Compare Spillar.