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The word Vampire (Vampir, Vampyre) has oblique origins, but researchers and scholars for the most part agree that it can be traced to the Slavic Tongue. There have been continuous debates however, as to its etymological sources. The word may have come from the Lithuanian wempti ("to drink"), or from the root pi ("to drink"), with the prefix va or av. Other suggested roots have included the Turkish Uber ("witch"), and the Serbo-Croation pirati ("to blow").
Associated forms developed from the Serbo-Croation term, such as Vampir, Upyr in the Russian, Upior in the Polish, and Upir in the Byelorussian. Some scholars prefer the concept that upir is older than vampir, an eastern Slavic name that spread westward into the Balkans, where it was adopted by the southern Slavs and received vigorous circulation. The word vampire (or vampyre) arrived in the English language with two 1732 publications: the March translation of a report by the investigators looking into the case of Arnold Paole of Meduegna and the May release of the article "Political Vampires."
Vampyre is a variant spelling of vampire that endured into the nineteenth century, and as you have witnesses through out the net, it is still exercised by many today. "Vampyre" is closely connected to the Latin Vampyrus, to John Polidori's title for his short story " The Vampyre" (1819), and to the works of experts of previous centuries, including Zopfus, Rohl, and Ranft. As the word Vampire came into more common usage with the translation of such Eastern European names as upior, upyr, vampir, and vapir into English, vampyre became less common and died out.
Through out the Vampire Community, you will come across the two spelling variations of "vampire". Some feel that the spelling of "vampyre" is more superior to "vampire" because, in their opinion, it has a more aristocratic flair with a dark, elder essence. Sometimes the simplistic reason for use of "vampyre" is the admiration of how it appears and nothing more. Many choose to use "vampire" over "vampyre" because in their opinion, it is more modern or because it differentiates “vampyre” (as used in immortal myths) from "real vampires" (sanguines and psychic vampires). Many debate the usage and the distinguished differences, but it is quite trivial. It arrives at the conclusion of personal preference of the individual, you either favor i or y. It’s as simple as that. There isn’t a right or wrong with the term or the use of it. It’s the same scenario as You say tomato, I say tomahto.
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