My dad told me what the first sylabble of 'bodhrán' (see Munster Irish pronunciation of bodhrán) referred to dog-skin (as in bow-wow-wow) and I never was sure if he was serious or not. I think it may be related to Irish word bodhar (meaning deaf)

I've heard great sounds produced from a bodhrán with a transparent synthetic skin of some kind.

Beware if you are thinking of venturing out to a trad session with your bodhrán by the way http://www.thesession.org/discussions/index/search?name=bodhran