structural:expansion
Memorials

Tolkien and the characters and places from his works have become eponyms of many real-world objects. These include geographical features on Titan (Saturn's largest moon), street names such as There and Back Again Lane, inspired by The Hobbit, mountains such as Mount Shadowfax, Mount Gandalf and Mount Aragorn in Canada, companies such as Palantir Technologies, and species including the wasp Shireplitis tolkieni, 37 new species of Elachista moths, and many fossils.

Since 2003, The Tolkien Society has organized Tolkien Reading Day, which takes place on 25 March in schools around the world. In 2013, Pembroke College, Oxford University, established an annual lecture on fantasy literature in Tolkien's honour. In 2012, Tolkien was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admired. A 2019 biographical film, Tolkien, focused on Tolkien's early life and war experiences. The Tolkien family and estate stated that they did not "approve of, authorise or participate in the making of" the film.

Several blue plaques in England commemorate places associated with Tolkien, including for his childhood, his workplaces, and places he visited.

The Royal Mint produced a commemorative £2 coin in 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of Tolkien's death.