WDYT? It suddenly occured to me, and I really like it for a few reasons.
One, there are a lot of Marys in my family tree, or forms of Mary, so I've been thinking a lot about using Mary or something with Mary in it to honor them.
Two, gold was one of my school colors in high school. My high school was really important to me, and so any name that reminds me of it is a plus.
Three, my favorite opening line to a song ever is the first line of "Life in Rain" by Remy Zero which begins "I once had marigolds for eyes // that seemed to fade on sunny days." I absolutely adore that line.
Any combo suggestions, comments, anything? I think I would probably use it as a middle name, but I think it's workable as a fn, too. I really like Helena Marigold, but that's getting really obsessively "Life in Rain" (part of the song is just "Helena" - pron. HEL-en-a, like Helen with an a on the end - repeated over and over). I haven't thought much about any other combos (though I kind of like Colette Antonia Marigold), so I'll take any suggestions you want to throw my way.