Motörhead’s Lemmy may soon be on the periodic table, fans sign petition for ‘Lemmium’

Lemmy Motorhead — Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister of Motorhead performs on the Pyramid stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, Britain, June 26, 2015. Reuters/Dylan Martinez

Late bassist, singer and songwriter, Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister of English rock band Motörhead may have died, but his name lives on. His ardent fans have signed a petition to make one of the new four heavy metals listed on the periodic table to be “Lemmium,” named after their favourite rockstar. Lemmy Kilmister died on Dec. 28 after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer on Boxing Day. He was 70 years old.

“Lemmy was the very essence of heavy metal. We believe it is fitting that ... one of the four new heavy metals is named Lemmium,” said John Wright of York, the one who set up the petition on the Change.org website.

Wright started the petition with a single signature but already has 66,754 supporters and counting. According to News.com.au, the petition has also been supported by Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan who retweeted Wright’s petition.

https://t.co/wEa0x9GeTRLet's do THIS.
— Duff McKagan (@DuffMcKagan) January 6, 2016

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) naming requirements states that new elements “can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist.”

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, chemist Andrea Sella of University College of London said that out of the periodic table’s 118 elements, no one has ever named an element after a musician. The petition has to reach the goal of 75,000 signatures for it to be considered as a first step. Chemical number 118 currently has a temporary name dubbed “ununoctium.”

Meanwhile, the official Twitter account of the Motörhead band posted information on Lemmy’s funeral service on Wednesday.

Memorial service and celebration of Lemmy will be live streamed for all Motörhead fans. #motorhead #lovelemmy https://t.co/p0lTVQHxRI
— Official Motörhead (@myMotorhead) January 5, 2016

The funeral service will be held on Jan. 9, 2016 at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Hollywood, 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), or January 10 at 10 a.m. AEDT onward.

“Whatever your venue, and however you can, let’s be sure to gather globally on Saturday 9th and celebrate the life of our dear friend and irreplaceable icon,” a Facebook post by Motörhead read.

Watch Lemmy in Motörhead’s Ace of Spades here.