Spielberger

Spielberger is a German-language surname. It is likely of habitational or toponymic origin, formed from elements related to Germanic words meaning “play” or “game” (spiel) and “mountain” or “hill” (berg, berger), indicating a person from a hillside place or a locality named with berg. As a surname, it is relatively uncommon outside German-speaking regions, and individuals bearing the name have appeared in various professional fields, including academia and medicine.

Charles D. Spielberger (1918–2013) was an American psychologist and professor known for developing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), a widely used instrument for assessing how much of a person’s anxiety is experienced as a temporary state or a more general trait. His work contributed to standardized measures of anxiety and related affective states and informed clinical assessment and research.