Thousands of Czechs have signed a petition to name streets on Prague’s Rogan Island after characters from the novel “The Lord of the Rings,” reports AFP.

The island, located on the Vltava River, north of the historic center of Prague, is named after Josef Rohan, a famous person in Prague whose surname coincides with the surname of one of the kingdoms in the saga created by JRR Tolkien.

Prague City Hall has announced plans to name new streets in the area after philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Edmund Husserl and Jacques Derrida.

But more than 10,000 signatories to an online petition demanded that the new street names reflect the ambiguity of the island’s name.

“Rohan’s keys should bear the name Rohan,” the petition insists.

“What was Immanuel Kant’s contribution to the war against Saruman’s hordes?” they add, referring to the novel’s evil wizard.

“Where was Husserl when Westfolde fell?” they ask.

The petitioners also want the street to be named after the character Eowyn to “respond to a valid complaint” that there are no female names for the new streets.

Tolkien’s three-volume work of fantasy was adapted into a film trilogy by director Peter Jackson in 2001-2003.

Sharing the petition on his Facebook page, Zdenek Hryb, Prague City Councilor from the Pirate Party and former mayor of the city, hailed the initiative as a “laudable step”.

The Czechs are known for their passion for fantasy: in a national census conducted in 2021, more than 21,000 out of 10.5 million Czechs registered as Jedi, guardians of peace and justice from the Star Wars saga.