History Main / VanityLicensePlate

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', the Lee family car has a plate that reads, "SYST3MS" in honor of all the hard work the Systems team did to allow filmmakers to work from home during the pandemic.

* ''VideoGame/EuroTruckSimulator'' lets you customize your driver and co-pilot's plates.

* In some places, ''very'' high-ranking officials get plates with no alpha-numeric characters at all -- they just get a symbol. [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen The reigning British monarch]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor her family]] get red plates with a crown (which is replicated whenever she goes to one of the other places where she's Queen, like Canada or Australia). [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePoliticalSystem The Emperor of Japan]] and his family get plates with the chrystanthemum emblem of the Imperial family.

* The series ''Series/{{Matlock}}'' featured a title sequence concluding with Andy Griffith as the title character standing up beside his CoolCar Crown Victoria and a closeup of the front number plate reading MATLOCK. Funny thing: the US state of Georgia does not use front number plates-- perhaps a case of {{Critical Research Failure}}s.

* The ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' series has different plates for each game, including the likes of UNDRGRND. Allegedly, these were originally planned to be customisable for online play, but the consequences of that would have been [[ClusterFBomb fairly predictable]].
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] with a hint of ContinuityNod in ''Pro Street''. One of the menu commentary pieces is a call for the owner of a blue Subaru WRX with the plate "NFSCARBN" to move it.

** ''Most Wanted 2012'' is the first game to bring truly customizable license plates to the series.

** Vehicle Cargo missions in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Grand Theft Auto: Online]]'' are all about stealing [[RiceBurner gaudily modified]] sports cars, all of which have licence plates like [=PR3C10US=], [=2FA5T4U=], [=B1GM0N3Y=], [[MidlifeCrisisCar M1DL1F3]] and [[Creator/CharlieSheen W1NN1NG]], [[http://gta.wikia.com/wiki/Vehicle_Cargo#Target_Vehicles among many other "tasteful" examples]].

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the Mekgineer's Chopper / Mechano-Hog (different factions' versions of the same motorcyle) has a plate on the back reading PWN.

* ''Film/Bedazzled2000'': Creator/ElizabethHurley's Devil drives a [[CoolCar Lamborghini Diablo]] with the license plate "BAD 1".

It's definitely a thing in real life, but it depends very much on where you are. In the U.S., with its pervasive car culture, they tend to be easy to get and relatively cheap, and they're considered "mostly harmless" (if a mite gauche). California has one of the world's most famous car cultures and thus its most famous license plates, and for a period of time they even offered 8-character vanity license plates (more than basically anywhere else). Elsewhere in the world, though, license plates must follow a specific format, and vanity plates are either restricted to that format or not permitted at all. And even where it is allowed, it tends to be more expensive, so whoever owns a vanity plate is seen as an attention-seeking bore -- compare how Americans treat vanity plates to how the British ''Series/TopGear'' hosts see them.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 123",[[note]]Well, variations on this, since depending on when the plates were issued it could be more like "[=A12 BC3=]" or something like that. But the point is 3 letters and 3 numbers arranged in 2 groups of 3.[[/note]] the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". Oh, and the numeric part can only go up to "20". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators. The New Jersey Senate has 40 members--for an overall population of nearly 9 million. Thus to someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob's=] boatmobile from "No Free Rides" has one saying IMR-D, mimicking his often-uttered catchphrase, "I'm ready!"

** Spotted on an Infiniti [=SUV=]: "[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory NBEYOND]]". Should have put a bumper sticker with a "2" on it.

* Also on Andy's mom's minivan in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''. A113 is a common Pixar in-joke.

** Martin's Winnebago has the custom plate RDWRER. Neither Fraiser or Daphne could work out this meant "Road Warrior".
--->'''Daphne''': Of course. A retired man with a cane in a Winnebago. I don't know why my mind didn't go straight to it.

* In the early-1990s ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' cartoon, Professor Xavier's car had the license plate "Film/{{THX 1138}}".

** A woman in Denver, seeking to express her love of tofu, asked for "ILVTOFU". The Colorado DMV parsed it as "[[TheProblemWithPenIsland I LV TO F U]]" and [[http://www.local12.com/news/national/story/Womans-tofu-license-plate-curdles-in-Colorado/GvnKuPfzqkWQMQS67PjS5g.cspx denied it]].

** In 2007, a New York man [[http://nypost.com/2007/11/19/plate-debate/ received some media attention]] because the DMV had rejected his application for a plate that said [[UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden "GETOSAMA"]].

** A white VW Rabbit with plates reading "[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland IM LATE]]" has been spotted as early as the [[Website/{{Usenet}} rec.humor.funny]] days on the Internet.

[[quoteright:350:[[Wiki/TVTropes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TVTropePlate.jpg]]]]

* The U.S. and Canada are considered basically the friendliest places in the world for vanity plates. In a number of other places, they're either not allowed entirely or must follow a specific format. Many places have a specific numbering scheme that allows you to easily tell based on the license plate information like which specific vehicle registration office issued it, which year (or even month) the vehicle was registered, or what type of vehicle it is (is it a car, a motorbike, an eighteen-wheeler?). However, in a few places, there are ways to get creative:

** On a car in [[http://imgur.com/gallery/GdH7DYn Nevada]]: "[[Franchise/HarryPotter KEDAVRA]]". Presumably driven by He Who Must Not Be Ticketed.

** A woman in Utah wanted "GAYSROK" (which could be either "gays are ok" or "gays rock", not that it makes much of a difference), and the state took a while to decide whether or not it was offensive. They eventually decided [[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8734642/ it wasn't]].
** Washington DC accidentally approved a plate reading "MERDE", without realizing what it meant. It's [[ForeignCussWord French for "shit"]].

** The Governor of California's "1" license plate made it quite funny when around 1990, he was ticketed for speeding.

** The President of the Philippines gets "1000" on their official car.

** In Singapore, all license plates start with "S" (a relic of the old system from when it was still a part of Malaysia), so the president's car has "S1".
** In Ireland, all plates must follow the system listed above, but since the last section is a simple number sequence, it's easy to just tack a low number on there. For instance, the Lord Mayor of Dublin traditionally gets "01-D-1" (the first number counting upward every time he gets a new car).
** In Lebanon, the general rule of thumb is that numbers lower than about 200 are reserved for state officials, and low numbers in the 200-900 range are for people with more money than sense who want to make it look like they're really important. A number plate in the 200-300 range goes for about €17,000. It's a nice little revenue source for the government.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 123",[[note]]Well, variations on this, since depending on when the plates were issued it could be more like "A12 BC3" or something like that. But the point is 3 letters and 3 numbers arranged in 2 groups of 3.[[/note]] the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". Oh, and the numeric part can only go up to "20". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators. The New Jersey Senate has 40 members--for an overall population of nearly 9 million. Thus to someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". Oh, and the numeric part can only go up to "20". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators. The New Jersey Senate has 40 members--for an overall population of nearly 9 million. Thus to someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators. The New Jersey Senate has 40 members--for an overall population of nearly 9 million. Thus to someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators. The New Jersey Senate has 40 members--for an overall population of nearly 9 million. To someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

*** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators--of whom there are exactly 40. In a state of nearly 9 million. To someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

** In a number of U.S. states, members of the state legislature get a number on their official car corresponding to the number of the district they represent (which is almost always a one- or two-digit number).

* UsefulNotes/NewJersey has three spins on this, two kinda normal/boring, and one quite interesting:
** Like many states, high-ranking state officials (like the governor) get plates with low numbers. This is normal and (again) kinda boring.
** N.J. also has special series of plates for things like legislators, judges, and the surrogate (a quasi-judicial official in charge of probate matters) in each county. The plate generally has a code that identifies the county and a fairly low number, and also generally has a full-color rendition of the state seal in the center. However, this style has fallen out of favor since the early 2000s as officeholders decided that the plates, while kinda cool, made them and their vehicles targets for disgruntled constituents and litigants.
** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators--of whom there are exactly 40. In a state of nearly 9 million. To someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "if you f**k with me, you're f**king with a senator." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators--of whom there are exactly 40. In a state of nearly 9 million. To someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all Jersey cops--courtesy plates mean "f**k with me and you're pissing off some people with serious clout." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.

** N.J.'s most interesting plates are the "courtesy" plates. What makes them interesting is that if you don't know what you're looking at, they're ''completely'' ordinary-looking. The only thing that distinguishes them from standard NJ plates is that instead of taking the form "ABC 1234", the number takes the form "ABC 1" or "ABC 12". That's it. But plates in this format can ''only'' be issued on the personal approval of the driver's state senator, so they are only issued to friends and allies of those state senators--of whom there are exactly 40. In a state of nearly 9 million. To someone who ''does'' know what they're looking at--including most New Jerseyans and all cops in NJ, NY, and PA--courtesy plates mean "f**k with me and you're pissing off some people with serious clout." On the customization front, while the "A" in the "ABC 12" is assigned to the driver's county of residence,[[note]]For instance, "A" is assigned to Atlantic County, while "K" stands for Middlesex. Each county can be assigned one letter, as New Jersey has only 21 counties[[/note]] the remaining two alphabetic characters are customizable and usually chosen to match the driver's initials.