diff --git a/include/xrpl/consensus/ConsensusSpanNames.h b/include/xrpl/consensus/ConsensusSpanNames.h
index f71b332457..e337fa56c6 100644
--- a/include/xrpl/consensus/ConsensusSpanNames.h
+++ b/include/xrpl/consensus/ConsensusSpanNames.h
@@ -289,12 +289,18 @@ inline constexpr auto proposalTrusted = makeStr("proposal_trusted");
 inline constexpr auto validationTrusted = makeStr("validation_trusted");
 
 /**
- * "validation_status" — which exit the inbound validation took. Set once per
- * exit, so a dropped validation (microseconds) is separable from a queued one
- * (job wait plus checkValidation). Without it the span name reports two
- * unrelated latency distributions and every quantile over it is meaningless.
+ * "validation_receive_status" — which exit the inbound validation took on
+ * consensus.validation.receive. Set once per exit, so a dropped validation
+ * (microseconds) is separable from a queued one (job wait plus
+ * checkValidation); without it the span reports two unrelated latency
+ * distributions and every quantile over it is meaningless.
+ *
+ * Deliberately NOT `validation_status`: that key belongs to
+ * consensus.validation.accept and carries what the validation store did
+ * (`ValStatus`). One key with two value domains would make any aggregation
+ * that does not also filter on span name meaningless.
  */
-inline constexpr auto validationStatus = makeStr("validation_status");
+inline constexpr auto validationReceiveStatus = makeStr("validation_receive_status");
 }  // namespace attr
 
 // ===== Event names ===========================================================
@@ -360,7 +366,7 @@ inline constexpr auto closeAnomaly = makeStr("anomaly");
 inline constexpr auto closeOthersClosed = makeStr("others_closed");
 inline constexpr auto closeIdle = makeStr("idle");
 inline constexpr auto closeNormal = makeStr("normal");
-// validation_status values, one per exit of the inbound validation path.
+// validation_receive_status values, one per exit of the receive path.
 inline constexpr auto validationQueued = makeStr("queued");
 inline constexpr auto validationDroppedDiverged = makeStr("dropped_diverged");
 inline constexpr auto validationDroppedLoad = makeStr("dropped_load");
diff --git a/src/xrpld/overlay/detail/PeerImp.cpp b/src/xrpld/overlay/detail/PeerImp.cpp
index 0bce9a252c..06e1715a84 100644
--- a/src/xrpld/overlay/detail/PeerImp.cpp
+++ b/src/xrpld/overlay/detail/PeerImp.cpp
@@ -2706,7 +2706,7 @@ PeerImp::onMessage(std::shared_ptr<protocol::TMValidation> const& m)
                 static_cast<int64_t>(val->getSignTime().time_since_epoch().count()));
         }
 
-        // validation_status is set once on each exit below, not as a default
+        // validation_receive_status is set once on each exit below, not as a default
         // here, to avoid OTel SDK attribute duplication. It is what separates
         // the microsecond drop paths from the queued path, which also covers
         // job wait and checkValidation.
@@ -2715,7 +2715,7 @@ PeerImp::onMessage(std::shared_ptr<protocol::TMValidation> const& m)
             if (span && *span)
             {
                 span->setAttribute(
-                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationStatus,
+                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationReceiveStatus,
                     telemetry::consensus::span::val::validationDroppedDiverged);
             }
             JLOG(pJournal_.debug()) << "Dropping untrusted validation from diverged peer";
@@ -2726,7 +2726,7 @@ PeerImp::onMessage(std::shared_ptr<protocol::TMValidation> const& m)
             if (span && *span)
             {
                 span->setAttribute(
-                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationStatus,
+                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationReceiveStatus,
                     telemetry::consensus::span::val::validationQueued);
             }
             std::string const name = isTrusted ? "ChkTrust" : "ChkUntrust";
@@ -2745,7 +2745,7 @@ PeerImp::onMessage(std::shared_ptr<protocol::TMValidation> const& m)
             if (span && *span)
             {
                 span->setAttribute(
-                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationStatus,
+                    telemetry::consensus::span::attr::validationReceiveStatus,
                     telemetry::consensus::span::val::validationDroppedLoad);
             }
             JLOG(pJournal_.debug()) << "Dropping untrusted validation for load";