If you put the legal names of some area politicians on the ballot, you may not know who exactly you were voting for.

Some, such as Bill Saffo, are only known publicly by their nicknames. Others, such as Eulis "Scrap" Willis, use nicknames that have their own histories.
Here are the stories behind how six area officials – three mayors, a city councilman, a county commissioner and a school board member – got their birth names and the monikers they're known by today.
Wilmington Councilman Neil Anderson's true namesake was nearsighted Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer, a newspaper editor turned Tennessee congressman.
After Tennessee seceded, Zollicoffer was put in command of Confederate soldiers in eastern Tennessee, according to Clint Johnson's book, "Civil War Blunders."
"The story doesn't have the Hollywood ending," Anderson said. According to family lore, the general did not have his glasses with him and couldn't see without them.
In 1862, Zollicoffer lost his sense of direction and mistakenly rode smack into Union troops, who promptly shot him dead.
Anderson's full name is Zollie Neil Anderson.
A distant grandfather had fought under Zollicoffer, and Anderson's grandfather was named Zollicoffer after him, but went by Zollie. Anderson's father, also carried the name, but went by Z.N. and later, Neil.
Because Anderson goes by Neil, he said he's actually been mistakenly called "Neil Armstrong." "It's the Neil, not the Zollie, that's been confusing," Anderson said.
When he was in school, a Schoolhouse Rock jingle went "Lolly Lolly Lolly, get your adverbs here," and Anderson's classmates eagerly adapted that tune to "Zollie Zollie Zollie."
Later, he joined a fraternity at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where pledges had to learn his full name.
"Once they found that out, they didn't let it lie," Anderson said.
He continued the name with his son, who is named Zollie Smith, with Smith being the maiden name of his grandmother.
He goes by Smith, not Zollie.
Olaf "Bud" Thorsen III got his first name by way of his grandfather, who was from Norway and made his way to Southport aboard a ship in the early 20th century.
Thorsen, a longtime member of the Brunswick County Board of Education, is commonly known by a nickname, Bud.
He admits Olaf is not a common name around Southeastern North Carolina. When he was young, his family started calling him Bud. He said he doesn't think his brothers and sisters could pronounce Olaf.
"It is a little strange getting a name from Olaf to Bud," Thorsen said.
After his grandfather came to Southport, he married a local girl and they had several children together. "He was kind of a fixture in the Southport area for net making," Thorsen said.
He never knew his granddaddy, but he thinks he takes after him. He loves going in the water and net fishing.
Most everybody knows to call him by his nickname.
"I'll always be known as Bud," Thorsen said.
Thorsen's son, now 26, is named Matthew Tyler.
"The name stopped with me," the older Thorsen said.
Few people know Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo by his real name – Vassilios Avgerinos Saffo.
"Vassilios means Bill in Greek," said Saffo, whose parents both have Greek heritage. "Everybody says Vassilios is Bill or Billy or William."
According to Saffo, there's an old Greek tradition to name the first son after his father's father. His grandfather, Vassilios, came to America in 1903. Opting for the American translation, he also went by the name Bill Saffo.
The youngest Saffo's middle name, Avgerinos, is his father's first name and means "morning star," he said. (His father, nicknamed Doky, also went by the name Bill Saffo in high school.)
When Saffo was growing up, he was known as Billy. But as he got older, he became Bill.
Inevitably, teachers unfamiliar with Saffo would call out his real name from the class role.
"Everybody would look at me like ‘what in the world is that?' " Saffo said. "Growing up, and you got that name – you want to know where that name came from."
New Hanover County Commissioners' Chairman Woody White has always been known as Woody. On paper, he's Haywood Edwin White III, but most people don't know it, he said.
He's met a couple of other Haywoods in Southeastern North Carolina. There's a Haywood County in the mountains.
"I don't think it's a common name, but it's my name," White said, though his parents always called him Woody – unless he was in trouble, he added.
His grandfather answered to Haywood, but his father goes by Eddie.
Grandfather Haywood was named after Haywood Alexander White, a Confederate soldier who was captured at Fort Fisher in 1865, White said. He said he believes the soldier is his great-great-great-grandfather. His was shipped to Delaware and released after the war ended. He put an "X" on the parole papers because he couldn't read or write, White said.
White continued the name with his son, who is the fourth. He and his wife both wanted to keep the tradition, but at first, they couldn't settle on a nickname. They didn't think Haywood fit. They didn't want to call him Little Woody. His mother-in-law actually suggested a nickname one morning at the Dixie Grill, and it stuck – "Hayden," a shortened form of Haywood and Edwin.
Surf City Mayor Alexander Guy was about two months old when an uncle bestowed what became his permanent nickname – Zander.
It was for good reason. His grandfather was an Alexander, as was his father.
But having his own nickname didn't always clear up confusion.
In 1972, just before his honeymoon, Guy went to check his bank balance. At 23, he was excited to learn it was in the six figures.
"Come to find out, it was my dad's money," Guy said. His balance was, in fact, much, much lower.
His father went by his middle name, Duke. Guy's son, also named Alexander, goes by Alex.
On the ballot, Guy is A.D. "Zander" Guy, but everyone except a few aunts calls him Zander.
"My wife will call me Alexander sometimes when she's upset with me," he said.
Navassa Mayor Eulis Willis didn't get his nickname until he was almost 10. It was the late 1950s, and he was involved with a community baseball team in Northern Brunswick County.
The teams played on homemade fields, Willis said. The coach found out Willis was a "go-getter," meaning he would retrieve the foul balls. After he proved himself at that job, they needed somebody who could be a scorekeeper. Willis was good at math and got the job.
A man who went by Scrap served as the scorekeeper for their archrivals, a team in Seabreeze, a small community in southern New Hanover County just north of Snow's Cut.
"They called me Little Scrap," Willis said. "The name kind of stuck from there."
He embraced the name because he was scrappy and didn't back away from fights.
While his close family calls him Eulis, everyone else knows him as Scrap, he said. He even started putting Eulis (Scrap) Willis on the ballot.
"When they saw Scrap, they knew who they were voting for," Willis said.
When Willis is presiding in public meetings, residents occasionally address him as Scrap. Council members have interjected and asked them to call him mayor, but Willis says it doesn't bother him.
Now that he's in his sixties, his nickname has a new variation. He's got a lot of grandchildren and extended relatives on his side and his wife's side. The younger ones have started calling him Uncle Scrap.

Julian March: 343-2099
On Twitter: @julian_march