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I think you make really good points, but I thought that the main reason for using internal names like you describe are so that if the names aren't recognizable if they are used indiscreetly (i.e. to protect projects that are in development from being leaked inadvertently).

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This is how battle tanks came to be known as 'tanks'. At the time, any german spy who overheard the wrong conversation would think the British were talking about containers for holding water.

OEMs use codenames because they're often sending/receiving parts to/from external suppliers, e.g. when driveshafts go around random warehouses and logistics companies they have the codenames on the boxes and stickers. they impose the same rules on tier 1 suppliers in order to maintain secrecy and streamline communication, that way everyone is referring to the same project using the same naming convention while preventing incidental leaks

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