It wasn't required.

The names never seem to be used so if they are there or not did not make a difference. The objects created are referred to by their python object name. AKA when we refer to muxer later we use using the python object muxer. If the name is None then the Gst object name is a unique name that is automatically assigned. 

The reason it was not required is because we don't use the names assigned in the .make(type, name). The reason I did it was because I was desperately trying to troubleshoot a problem when I did it and I was attempting to follow the Novacut porting guide. 

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Novacut/GStreamer1.0#Using_GStreamer_1.0_from_Python

In that page, and the examples linked to, all calls to ElementFactory.make() were of (type, "None"). I did not know if the naming of objects was breaking the code or if it was something else. Turns out it was something else but that the names didn't seem to matter as we never used them.

That is why other plugin code that I worked on still has names assigned. Because once I figured out that they weren't the problem I also figured out they didn't matter.

Of course I could be wrong, but the code now seems to work regardless of if the Gst elements are named by us or automatically.