After Earth receives the Hail Mary logs and everyone sees Grace and Rocky together ... after the sun is saved and everyone knows they have a middle-school science teacher and an alien rock spider to thank ...
What place does Rocky occupy in human culture?
Because he's the only Eridian most humans have seen or ever will see, and he's 50% of why humanity survives. Sure, Grace will be a hero and there will be millions of kids named after him, and there will be humans who try to minimize Rocky in the story (call it the Tenzing Norgay effect) ...
But I'm just imagining all those little baby Rylands and Graces snuggling up to their plush Rockys at night. (Because you don't name your kid after Doctor Captain Ryland Grace and NOT give them a Rocky. Even if you have to make it yourself.) We make bears and tigers cuddly and give them to children to help them sleep; why not an Eridian?
And when those children grow up and some of them become scientists, those threadbare Rocky plushies will occupy places of honor in their labs and offices. Imagine the movement to reclaim Rocky as a co-savior of the stars. Imagine angsty tweens creating Eridiansonas. Adults getting Rocky tattoos. Songs being written that incorporate clips of Rocky's audio. And always, always, the children hugging their Rockys. Rocky keeps them safe, after all. Love is shaped like Rocky.
And then the Eridians show up, however many generations later, and find a planet full of people who have seen exactly one (1) Eridian and decided, as a species, to make him soft so they can hug him forever.
...I might need to make a Rocky plush.
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