When the word dub is used as "to name" "to call", is it formal or informal usage?

[NewHopeR]

I cannot conclude from the following definition:

dub
verb (used with object)
1. to invest with any name, character, dignity, or title; style; name; call:
He was dubbed a hero.


Can it be used in academic background? For example:

In chemistry, there is a change directly from the solid to the gaseous state without becoming liquid, a phenomenon dubbed sublimation.

Is "dubbed" used properly here? Should we change it into "called" or "named" or "termed?

[SoothingDave]

"Dub" is what the Queen uses when she makes someone a knight. (At least in the American imagination. Not sure if she really says "I dub thee Sir ...")

"Called" would be the most common in the sentence you quoted. "Dubbed" is fine here as well.