Family name origins & meanings
- English : occupational name for a tumbler or jester, from an agent derivative of Middle English spill(en) ‘to play, jest, or sport’ (Old English spilian).
- English : nickname for a destructive or wasteful person, from an agent derivative of the homonymous Middle English spill(en) ‘to spoil, waste, or squander’ (Old English spillan).
- German and Dutch : occupational name for a spindle maker, a variant of Spille with the addition of the agent suffix -er.
- In some cases a variant of German Spieler.