Cipín is indeed the Irish name for the tipper (cue dirfting thread weave involving Mrs Al Gore and those lovely girls with the black hair). I haven't got a dictionary to hand, but from memory cipín is any small thin piece of wood, and the word is also used for a match or a spill (the latter being a slip of wood which you lit in the open fire to light a candle or a pipe).

There is a credible suggested etymology for bohdrán to mean "deafener", since bodhar means deaf, and -án is a common suffix for an appliance, device or machine (guthán = telephone, gluaisteán = motor car scríobhán = typewriter). That's just credibility, not absolute proof, but it's a lot more convincing than deriving the name from tambourine.

And while we're at it, I've seen people on Mudcat using the word "bodhranis" for practitioners (devotees, perpetrators?) of the bodhrán. The normal coining, if one were to follow the usual principles of word formation in Irish, would be to make it "bodhránaí" in the singular and "bodhránaithe" in the plural. Just thought I'd be pedantic and point that out. Pronunciation: bowRAUNee and bowRANiheh.

And while we're at it, whoever abbreviated it to 'hran above might note that the "h" belongs with the "d" and indicates that it's silent, so the diminutive really should be 'rán. Now there's an idea: keep a spray-can of paint handy when you're in a session, and if a bodhránaí whom you don't like starts playing, just spray a big "h" on the offending instrument and that'll make it silent. Whatever....