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An instance of appellative status is the collective ascription of an appellation to an object by a community. The substance of the appellative status is the communal commitment to the naming of the object in question with a designated appellation, under a designated modality.

Instances of appellative status are recognizable through evidence of community members adopting the intentional stance of so-naming towards the object in question, as observable from direct witnesses, through the reports of competent observers or through evidence of a declarative act [e.g.: ZE19 Naming] initiating this status. Examples of such evidence include, several individuals so naming a thing, a witness declaring that a thing is ‘so named, by us’ or through documents reporting this fact.

Instances of appellative status may come to be through a formal process such as a declarative act of naming, or may have arisen through habit, fiat or be of unknown origin. Instances of appellative status may end either through a formal process, such as a new declarative act of naming, the formal stripping of a name, or may simply fade out of use, be eliminated by fiat or be of unknown reason. 

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