If the petition is a success then Ununoctium 118 will be renamed “Lemmium”.

Motörhead fans want the band’s late frontman Lemmy to be immortalised by giving his name to a new chemical element.

A fan of the band has launched a petition to rename the “super-heavy” radioactive element Ununoctium 118 “Lemmium.” It’s one of four freshly identified elements added to the periodic table earlier this week.

The petition was launched by York-based Motörhead enthusiast John Wright, and has amassed almost 18,000 signatures.

“Heavy rock lost its most iconic figure over Christmas with the sudden and unexpected death of Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister,” Wright says. “Lemmy was a force of nature and the very essence of heavy metal.

“We believe it is fitting that the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) recommend that one of the four new discovered heavy metals in the periodic table is named Lemmium.”

While the tribute seems fitting to some, other fans have pointed out in the petition’s comments that Lemmy said in an interview in 2010 that he didn’t consider Motörhead to be a heavy metal band.

The Motörhead frontman died on December 28 after a short battle with cancer. His funeral is to be live streamed on YouTube on January 9.