Jake, the first comet to have a name was also the first one to have been recognized as such and the first one to have been predicted to come back.....you guessed it ,it's Halley's comet! No, not the comet Halley, but Halley's comet : the only one to be named this way. He predicted it would return back in 1759 (after having been close in 1682) and sure enough, it did. He had died earlier so couldn't see it.
All previous comets were bringers of doom, so those who first saw Ikeya Zhan didn't know what it was.
The IAU's utility is to Internationally give a legitimate name to celestial objects so that it can be recognized by everybody. It's the same as deciding where the hour changes on Earth, where we'll land on the Moon, etc...It's not political but practical.
Those who sell names for stars should be fined. The IAU isn't selling, it's just bringing everybody into agreeing on conventions.

Raoul