Have a look at handshake protocol. There's no authority there. And it's quite an original approach.

Petname systems are fine, they have their use, but when you want to make a billboard with your name, it's better to have a global unique resolution to that name, because you don't have control over everyone's web of trust. For someone with infinite fiat resources it's easy to register that name in thousands of other webs of trust, so you will be impersonated easily.
And resolving a naming conflict - if both candidates want that name - inevitably comes with a need for authority (community leader) who decides who will get the name.
But I'd be happy to hear what nostr:npub1lunaq893u4hmtpvqxpk8hfmtkqmm7ggutdtnc4hyuux2skr4ttcqr827lj  thinks of it.