1) It gets really complicated if every single server is named 'api-server', even with this names we ran into name conflicts and had to re-name our packages to fifo-...
2) Mnemonics, since all the names have a link to their task (jingles is an exception here for historical reasons and will be deprecated with the next release). FiFo's naming scheme is dog themed, howl is the service handling API/HTTP and communications - a dog howling, communicating with others. Snarl is the rights management server, think a guard dog snarling at new person. Sniffle is the business logic server, 'sniffing' all things out and understanding them.
3) As a developper I am spending hours a day in the code, and some of them can be really frustrating, having to deal with snarl doing something wired is a lot more pleasant then dealing with generic-aaa-server doing something wired, at least reading the name makes me smile every time.
OpenStack does the same thing with "cinder" and "nova" and "horizon" and "neutron"
I guess it's trendy but what's with names that have no relation to function? It really adds to the learning curve or ability for someone on the outside to have a conversation about the system and understand in broad strokes what is going on.