Abstract:The address term system positions people’s social roles and social relations, which also applies to the address term uses in non-interactional situations, including the choice kinsfolk and non-kinsfolk address terms on gravestones. Based on Blommaert’s theory of orders of indexicality, this research studies the address terms of the deceased on gravestones at a cemetery in Beijing. The research findings show that although the kinsfolk address terms have definite indexical meaning non-kinsfolk address terms can index either of the familial or occupational scale, depending on not only address terms per se but the whole gravestone text the context. Different address terms index identities of the deceased on different scales, providing legitimacy to the private or public commemorations.