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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information about the name <Rhiannon> which you want to use in a 12th century Irish name along with a byname meaning "anonymous" or "unknown". Here is what we have found.
The name <Rhiannon> is unique is pre-17th century history to the Welsh legendary/divine character who appears in two of the branches of the Mabinogi. Since this name is quite popular in the Society, many people have looked for evidence that it was used in period, but no one has found anything outside of Welsh mythology. Note that the name has no connection at all with Ireland. Welsh and Irish were distinct languages in our period. They shared some words and names, but this does not appear to be one of them.
<Rhiannon> probably derives from British <Rig-ant-ona>, where <rig> is a root meaning "king/queen", "-ant-" is an augmentative suffiix, and <-on(a)> is a suffix frequently found in divine names. So we hypothesize that the name's original intent was "great divine queen" [6]. We know no evidence that it was used by any historical person.
There's a handful of similar names in modern Welsh use [1]. <Rhian>, <Rhianydd>, and <Rhianwen> have been used in the Society, but none of these are period names as far as we can determine [2].
We have found only one similar name which might be a period name. A 12th century Life of Saint Iltud mentions his mother <Rhieinwylydd>. We aren't entirely sure whether this was intended as the woman's name or simply as a description of her: It could be a rendering of words meaning "modest queen" [3]. But it is possible that this is a valid 12th century Welsh name. It is pronounced \HREE-ine-WULL-idh\, where \HR\ represents an aspirated 'r', \ine\ is pronounced as in <dine>, and \dh\ is the "th" sound of <them>. Note that this is a Welsh name, not Irish.
The Irish root cognate to British <rig> is <rí> "king". Several names are based on that root; one of them might appeal to you. (The slash after the 'i' represents a sharp accent on the vowel.) Here are a couple Irish femine names with their pronunciations.
Rígnach \REE-nakh\, \kh\ is the hard, rasping sound of the 'ch' in
Scottish <loch> or German <Bach>.
Ríomthach \REE-vahkh\
You asked for 12th century Irish words means "anonymous" or "unknown". Before we give you translations, we have to point out that the modern concept of "unknown" or "anonymous" meaning "not famous, not well-known" did not exist in period. If someone were described as "unknown", it would have meant that she was a stranger of foreigner. And if that were the case, she would more likely have been _named_ "the Foreigner". Indeed, we have examples of the Irish word <gall> "foreigner" used in a personal name [4]. But before you use that as your own byname, we should point out that the medieval notion of foreignness did not carry the sense of romantic mystery that it has today. A foreigner in medieval society was rootless, without obligations, and therefore suspicious and dangerous and shunned. It is _not_ a favorable description.
That said: There is no word in medieval Irish that meant "anonymous". There are a couple phrases meaning "without a name" or "with name concealed", but these are not appropriate as part of a personal name. The best translation of "unknown" is <anaithnid> \ahn-EYE-nidge\, which also means "strange, unfamiliar, unheard of, unusual, uncouth, foreign". We have no examples of this word used in personal names [4].
Finally, you asked for surnames from 12th century Drogheda. There are two problems answering this request: There were no surnames in 12th century Irish, and there exist no records specific enough to pin down naming practices specific to one town. Surnames, by which we mean hereditary family names in the modern sense, that are used without variation for most of your life, are a very late-period development. In 12th century Ireland, most people were known by patronymics, i.e. bynames which identify their fathers (like <R/ignach ingen Murchada>) or famous ancestors (like <R/ignach ingen uí Domnaill>). Some women were also known by descriptive bynames like <Fhind> "fair" or <Beccán> "small" [5]. For a detailed discussion of feminine name formation in your period, please read these articles, available on the web:
Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames
http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/quick_gaelic_bynames.html
Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum
Hiberniae'
http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html
I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Pedro de Alcazar.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Gruffudd, Heini. Enwau i'r Cymry/Welsh Personal Names (Talybont: Y
Lolfa, 1984).
[2] --, On-line Ordinary and Armorial for the SCA (WWW: SCA, Inc., July
1997).
[3] Bartrum, P.C., Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 1966).
[4] Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on
Old and Middle Irish materials (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983).
[5] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "Feminine Names from the Index to
O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae'" (WWW: Academy of Saint
Gabriel, 1996)
http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html
[6] Thomson, R.L., _Pwyll Pendeuic Dyuet_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, 1986), p.33.