diff --git a/src/koza/cli_utils.py b/src/koza/cli_utils.py
index 01d2f4b..e62b7e9 100644
--- a/src/koza/cli_utils.py
+++ b/src/koza/cli_utils.py
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ def _check_row_count(type: Literal["node", "edge"]):
 def split_file(file: str,
                fields: str,
                format: OutputFormat = OutputFormat.tsv,
+               remove_prefixes: bool = False,
                output_dir: str = "./output"):
     db = duckdb.connect(":memory:")
 
@@ -146,6 +147,9 @@ def split_file(file: str,
     list_of_value_dicts = [dict(zip(keys, v)) for v in values]
 
     def clean_value_for_filename(value):
+        if remove_prefixes and ':' in value:
+            value = value.split(":")[-1]
+
         return value.replace("biolink:", "").replace(" ", "_").replace(":", "_")
 
     def generate_filename_from_row(row):
diff --git a/src/koza/main.py b/src/koza/main.py
index 9997801..fa4a27b 100755
--- a/src/koza/main.py
+++ b/src/koza/main.py
@@ -69,10 +69,11 @@ def validate(
 def split(
     file: str = typer.Argument(..., help="Path to the source kgx file to be split"),
     fields: str = typer.Argument(..., help="Comma separated list of fields to split on"),
+    remove_prefixes: bool = typer.Option(False, help="Remove prefixes from the file names for values from the specified fields. (e.g, NCBIGene:9606 becomes 9606"),
     output_dir: str = typer.Option(default="output", help="Path to output directory"),
 ):
     """Split a file by fields"""
-    split_file(file, fields, output_dir=output_dir)
+    split_file(file, fields,remove_prefixes=remove_prefixes, output_dir=output_dir)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     typer_app()