Does Marilyn Evergreen sound stupid to you?

[HotCosmo]

Well, to summarize, I'm writing a story game set at the Midwest Central University (MCU, yeah, I notice it), a fictional college with US vibes but with no clear localization, and I was thinking of calling Marilyn Evergreen the founder of the college. I was trying to go with something that sounds rich and posh, but I don't know if it sounds weird or too stupid, because I'm not a native speaker, and those kinds of things are very hard to notice without a closer background to the language.

I'll appreciate any advice, comment, or opinion about the name or recommendations if it's too bad. (By the way, the story has a lot of smut and comedy, so if it's weird but not to the level of taking people out the story by being too much, it would be fine.)

 

[YmaOHyd]

Seems completely fine for fiction. Evergreen is a pretty unlikely surname but you could get away with it. If you just want a generic rich-sounding last name, I'd consider something Dutch-derived. Marilyn Vanderpol. Not sure where you're from, but something that evokes money from Old Europe. Marilyn is a very good first name, though.

 

[Z_TheWriter]

I was writing something, but yeah that.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Ancestry dot com begs to differ with you, Evergreen Surname.

Seems completely fine for fiction. Evergreen is a pretty unlikely surname but you could get away with it. If you just want a generic rich-sounding last name, I'd consider something Dutch-derived. Marilyn Vanderpol. Not sure where you're from, but something that evokes money from Old Europe. Marilyn is a very good first name, though.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The Green and Blue states have families named Everygeen in them.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Ancestry dot com begs to differ with you, Evergreen Surname.

I'm not sure it does...? In 1880, there were six Evergreen families in New Jersey, one in Ohio, one in Illinois and one in Georgia. That seems like a pretty unlikely surname. But it's not like naming your person Marilyn Xa'Voth either.

 

[Writer61]

Evergreen sounds odd. Don't think I have ever come across it as a family name. I hear an echo of the English version of a Chinese company's name (Taiwan-based IIRC).

Try searching for common family names instead of completely making one up.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Brook Everygreen sounds better than Marilyn. But it's fiction. Ancestry also says it is a more common first name than last. Everygreen Smith, not quite as catchy as Indian Jones.

 

[Voboy]

Honestly, that name would take me out of the story. Not because it's bad; it flows well and I like it. But because I think a character named Marilyn Evergreen should be a cake baker, a fiction writer, a hooker, or a witch.

A college founder should have an old-money name, like Talbot or Carrington, or something ending in -ford.

 

[YmaOHyd]

A college founder should have an old-money name, like Talbot or Carrington, or something ending in -ford.

In the American south or New England, absolutely. In the midwest, Pennsylvania or New York, same deal but Dutch or German, or potentially Scandanavian/Nordic.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Okay, here I go, up the down staircase…

I think it’s a fine name. Unless there’s some reason for a specific name, some tie-in with the plot, then the choice of names is not really that big a deal.

Go for it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Allison Whitewealthworth sounds like a good college founder to me.

 

[HotCosmo]

Seems completely fine for fiction. Evergreen is a pretty unlikely surname but you could get away with it. If you just want a generic rich-sounding last name, I'd consider something Dutch-derived. Marilyn Vanderpol. Not sure where you're from, but something that evokes money from Old Europe. Marilyn is a very good first name, though.

I'm from Spain. So, we don't have that connection between Dutch surnames and wealth. I guess that it's a little bit like the image of the British gentleman that Americans have, but we don't.

 

[Voboy]

Allison Whitewealthworth sounds like a good college founder to me.

Lol. OP should just go with Wendy Midwestcollegefounder at that point.

 

[Writer61]

I'm from Spain. So, we don't have that connection between Dutch surnames and wealth.

History suggests otherwise. The first verse of the Wihelmus, the Dutch national anthem, is:

William of Nassau, scion
Of a German and ancient line,
I dedicate undying
Faith to this land of mine.
A prince I am, undaunted,
Of Orange, ever free,
To the king of Spain I've granted
A lifelong loyalty.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Whiteworth is an actual family name. Whitewealth and Worthworth are both real last names. I just kind of merged them.

Lol. OP should just go with Wendy Midwestcollegefounder at that point.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I'm from Spain. So, we don't have that connection between Dutch surnames and wealth. I guess that it's a little bit like the image of the British gentleman that Americans have, but we don't.

Parts of the US have lots and lots of people of Dutch descent, and one of the Famous Families (to the extent that concept exists in the US) are the Vanderbilts, who did found a university.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Marilyn Wellsworth Evergreen.











Posh bitches got three names.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Frats all joke about pruning the bush.

 

[Britva415]

Well, to summarize, I'm writing a story game set at the Midwest Central University (MCU, yeah, I notice it), a fictional college with US vibes but with no clear localization, and I was thinking of calling Marilyn Evergreen the founder of the college. I was trying to go with something that sounds rich and posh, but I don't know if it sounds weird or too stupid, because I'm not a native speaker, and those kinds of things are very hard to notice without a closer background to the language.

I'll appreciate any advice, comment, or opinion about the name or recommendations if it's too bad. (By the way, the story has a lot of smut and comedy, so if it's weird but not to the level of taking people out the story by being too much, it would be fine.)

Doesn't sound posh to me, sounds like a lifer of a real estate agent. Small fish trying to be a big fish in a small-to-mid-sized Midwestern pond - one which doesn't actually have room for any big fish. Big hair and whiskey voice.

BUT

I'm convinced that this name wouldn't impede the characterization you're going for. It just doesn't do any of the heavy lifting of that characterization.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

And Headmistress Wellsworth-Evergreen looks and dresses like ...


https://i.pinimg.com/736x/fb/4c/ff/fb4cffa8adf125f7fabc0bac66cedf71.jpg

 

[HotCosmo]

History suggests otherwise. The first verse of the Wihelmus, the Dutch national anthem, is:

William of Nassau, scion
Of a German and ancient line,
I dedicate undying
Faith to this land of mine.
A prince I am, undaunted,
Of Orange, ever free,
To the king of Spain I've granted
A lifelong loyalty.

I don't know about five hundred years ago, but nowadays, I don't think we have that mental association. Besides, although the anthem says loyalty to the king of Spain, it's a justification about why they should be independent of the Spanish empire by God's will.

Unto the Lord His power
I do confession make
That ne'er at any hour
Ill of the king I spake.
But unto God, the greatest
Of Majesties I owe
Obedience first and latest,
For Justice wills it so.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

She's not that 'posh' either. She demands certain things and selects an inner circle of adherents to serve, and service her.

 

[Writer61]

Besides, although the anthem says loyalty to the king of Spain, it's a justification about why they should be independent of the Spanish empire by God's will.

Perfidious Netherlands!!!

 

[Voboy]

Parts of the US have lots and lots of people of Dutch descent, and one of the Famous Families (to the extent that concept exists in the US) are the Vanderbilts, who did found a university.

I seem to recall another fairly-prominent family along those lines... Roose-something? Something-velt?