could it be that when they spawn, their name is picked from a pool of names, the same way that player pets are. And so they are meant as a part of the scenery, meaningless, like a tree. Not familiar with the default housing pet names, but i'm assuming these are from that pool of names?
I read this and immediately thought of this: I don't read the books myself - though I have considered starting a few times - but my brother does and he loves them. Could this be where the names are coming from?!