It's my understanding that TCP has logic for ensuring reliable communication, but UDP just naively sends information along the channel set up for it using IP and things in lower layers.
Does UDP actually do anything?
I'm kind of confused by why it even has a name.

Interesting perspective and question!
Yes, most of what UDP does is supply a standard means for multiple applications to co-exist using the same IP address, by defining the concept of UDP ports.
The exciting part about UDP isn't so much the network protocol but the API implemented by operating systems and socket libraries.  While not part of the UDP specifications itself, the ability to use abstractions like the POSIX socket API to easily develop software atop protocols like UDP is key to the success of the Internet Protocol stack.
