California vanity license plate applications with reasons for rejection (2020)
75 comments
·May 18, 2025MrFoof
Not California, but recently I had "SIXSPD" denied by a state after putting the first known 6-speed manual (all were sold as dual-clutch automatics) in an enthusiast car.
I was told that abbreviations weren't allowed. That was the denial reason.
Resubmitted it, not denied yet. We'll see if it shows up in another 3-5 weeks or if I get a denial letter followed by an another application refund 4-6 weeks after that.
zamadatix
Like the other commenter mentioned, PD can often be interpreted as Police Department but also "speed" interpretations can be marked as drug references. Tough spot, best of luck!
hot_topic
As someone who lives in Seattle it definitely sounds like six something Seattle police department
chmod775
> OMW2EYL,3,PERSONAL QUOTE,ON MY WAY TO END YOUR LIFE,N
How did they figure that one. If that's what it's supposed to mean, that reviewer is good...
kylecazar
Some of the reasons are nuts, like 'xyz is a slur in Tagalog'.
AStonesThrow
I must commend CA DMV for their wise leverage of UrbanDictionary.com, which is cited over 170 times in that file.
And I must wonder about how reliable they consider UD to be, given that UD is 100% user-generated content. Is it possible to tank a perfectly innocent license plate if someone gins up a misleading UD entry?
Signed,
Don Palabros
Incipient
Licence plates are a great example where detection "algorithms" be overzealous in returning false positives over false negatives. As someone had above, if they reject SIXSPD and won't allow it, then just try something else. If your life is materially impacted by by a licence plate, it's 'long hard look' time.
(I was going to make a specificity/selectively comment but I don't think that applies here, please correct me otherwise?)
starkparker
Reminds me of a bot, formerly of Twitter and now on Bluesky, that lists custom Oregon plates as they're registered or expired and made available: https://bsky.app/profile/plat.es
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Gigachad
Some of these rejections are so lame. I can’t see any good reasons that “gaymer” or “air$oft” were rejected.
Most of them are sex jokes or racist so fair enough, but the rejections seem way too sensitive for the others.
jsheard
This guy was robbed
> TUNA FSH
> I'M A PROFESSIONAL FISHERMAN AND I FISH FOR TUNA ALL OVER THE WORLD
> DMV: I GOOGLED HIM, HE IS AND HE DOES
> DENIED
NewJazz
There must be a blanket policy that they have to follow for some words.
yosito
Some of these are ridiculous. QVO ESE was denied because there's a gang that starts with the letter S. "Que hubo ese?" in Spanish is like saying "What's up dude?", it's not even as gang related as "What's up g?".
robhlt
"GAYMUR" was actually granted, it has a "Y" in the last column. Everything in the csv was just sent for extra review, not all of them were rejected.
zamadatix
One of the comments on a gay related ones contained the note "my instructions are to run any gay or lesbian plate by the review board, but as long as its positive it is acceptable". Sounds like more work to deal with those ones, even if it seems alright, which could contribute to the denials.
runlevel1
Same data in a Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18IUVU9Q4uN_lxqNd5AsN...
Note: I normalized the data a bit and I think I translated some of the abbreviations and reasons for rejection. It also got reordered at some point.
savrajsingh
SEVAK13,,"SEVAK = SERVANT, 13 = THERA = YOUR, IN PUNJABI THIS MEANS ""GOD, I AM YOUR SERVANT.""","13, GANG REFERENCE",N
Yes, Sevak is servant and the number 13 in Punjabi is "tera" which also means "yours".
Unfortunately in California the number 13 is a GANG REFERENCE. lol. Probably a free-speech argument to be made here?
throwatgft676
CA Gurudwaras largely Khalistan affiliated ?
no_wizard
Shame you can’t get ASSMAN
Proctologists everywhere mourn the lost opportunity
rascul
The one proctologist I had the displeasure of meeting for reasons I don't wish to discuss had an excellent sense of humor.
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throwup238
> Proctologists everywhere mourn the lost opportunity
Luckily there are many ways to abbreviate “hemorrhoid” without running afoul of the censors.
(IANAL)
threeseed
We also missed out on this gem:
GASSMAN, "I'M AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST"
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josephcsible
Talk about power tripping bureaucrats. Just glancing at a few:
> H84BY4Z,7,"I HATE 4X4 VEHICLES. SATIRE, AS I WILL BE PUTTING THIS PLATE ON A 4 WHEEL DRIVE TRUCK",HATE,N
> SAABNUT,1,CRAZZY ABOUT SAAB BRAND CARS,SAAB NUT.. SAAB IS A CAR NUT CAN BE SEXUAL OR CAN MEAN CRAZY,N
> PZA TACO,1,MY TWO FAVORITE THINGS PIZZA AND TACOS,TACO,N
> AIRS$FT,2,AIRSOFT SPORT WE LOVE,AIRSOFT SHOOTING,N
> 3&14 PI,4,THE FIRST 3 DIGITS OF PI,PIE 14 GANG REFERENCE,N
> CHRG4PS,1,CHARGE FOR PEACE,LOOKS LIKE CHARGE FOR PS… NOT SURE WHAT PS MEANS,N
> PINK 64,1,THE CAR IS A 1964 VW BUG,PINK=VAGINA. HAS A 64 VW ON ANI,N
> KIKI$77,1,NAME AND SOFTBALL NUMBER,"kiki=Tagalog, means vagina",N
> MFC,3,"'MFC' IS AN ABBREVIATION FOR 'MOTHERWELL FOOTBALL CLUB' A PREMIERE LEAGUE SOCCER TEAM LOCATED IN MY HOMETOWN OF MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND.",MFC motherfuck? Motherwell IS a Scottish Football Club,N
> CAT TAX,1,"I WANT A LICENSE PLATE WITH ""CAT"" ON IT, AND I FIGURED A CUSTOM PLATE CAUSES ME TO PAY MORE IN TAXES... SO I AM PAYING THE CAT TAX.",CAT TAX CAT SLANG FOR VAGINA,N
Do any of those rejections seem reasonable to anyone else? They all seem insane to me.
alexjmu
Eh, they're consistent at least.
I've seen many rejections for "HATE", any word that could be considered a sexual euphemism (TACO), anything that could be construed as a gang reference, and often anything that the reviewer doesn't understand that is not explained by the submission ("NOT SURE WHAT PS MEANS"). The latter feels paranoid, but it's probably justified.
AnnikaL
The submission does explain PS, though! They said it means "peace" as in "charge for peace".
netsharc
Interesting that one of them in the CSV was a Russian phrase: https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-meaning-of/russian-wor...
, where all the letters are representable using ASCII (B is pronounced V in Russian)
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lisper
I recently got the California TEKWZRD plate :-)
> This data was parsed from a set of 458 Excel workbooks that the DMV prepared for someone else's public records request. I received the files as a consolation prize in response to my own related records request, which I was told would cost $2,000 to fulfill otherwise.
That's very interesting. It implies that there seemingly is no central place in CA where this data is stored, otherwise there would be 1 source and 1 format.
Then again, last time I went to the DMV in CA I filled out paperwork online, only for them to print it and then manually process it. And this was 2.5 years ago.