from Hacker News

California vanity license plate applications with reasons for rejection (2020)

by networked on 5/18/25, 11:15 PM with 83 comments

• by OptionOfT on 5/19/25, 12:16 AM

  > 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.

• by MrFoof on 5/19/25, 12:02 AM

  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.

• by chmod775 on 5/19/25, 12:15 AM

  > 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...

• by savrajsingh on 5/19/25, 12:41 AM

  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?

• by runlevel1 on 5/19/25, 12:41 AM

  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.

• by no_wizard on 5/18/25, 11:53 PM

  Shame you can’t get ASSMAN

  Proctologists everywhere mourn the lost opportunity

• by starkparker on 5/19/25, 12:33 AM

  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

• by Gigachad on 5/19/25, 12:21 AM

  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.

• by Hizonner on 5/19/25, 1:28 PM

  If they don't feel like they can just give anybody any plate they ask for (which indeed they probably shouldn't do), then they shouldn't be issuing custom plates at all. Stuff like this conditions people to think it's appropriate for governments to be arbiters of taste.

  In an essentially irrelevant anecdote, I do always wonder how somebody a few blocks from me (not in California) managed to get "HOTWIFE".

• by netsharc on 5/18/25, 11:58 PM

  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)

• by lisper on 5/18/25, 11:55 PM

  I recently got the California TEKWZRD plate :-)

• by andoando on 5/19/25, 12:11 AM

  I filed for "YUUUGE" in the Trump era for my mini cooper, saying it was ironic, referencing the cooper's small size and it got denied it for inappropriate sexual reference.

• by ipsum2 on 5/18/25, 11:41 PM

  For those who like doomscrolling, there's a twitter bot for this: https://x.com/ca_dmv_bot2. Seems like 88 is automatically denied because of Hitler, not sure what they do about people born in that year.

• by davchana on 5/19/25, 12:59 AM

  The latest version of this request form in DMV CA doesn't even ask for meaning of the plate/phrase now.

• by burnt-resistor on 5/19/25, 12:45 AM

  I don't understand why REDROCK was so offensive. There's a coffee shop in Mountain View with that name.

• by everybodyknows on 5/19/25, 1:01 AM

  Notable by omission, as seen in the wild some decades ago, on a VW "Rabbit": FKSLK12

• by josephcsible on 5/19/25, 12:37 AM

  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.

• by stackedinserter on 5/19/25, 12:42 AM

  I would be happy to talk to the person that does/did this stupid job.

• by silisili on 5/19/25, 12:38 AM

  > DAVES88,2,DAVES 1988 TOYOTA,88 HITLER REFRENCE,N

  Don't get me wrong, I know some weird parts of the internet use 88 that way.

  But c'mon, this is pretty weak, I'd venture 95% of people (if not more) don't even know that reference. Is everyone born in 1988 prevented from using their birth year these days, too?

• by behnamoh on 5/18/25, 11:50 PM

  where do we draw the line? I think people should be able to choose any license plate they want, just like they can choose any name they wish.

  in general, I'm all for removing subjectivity.