Historical info about California License plates. (Also see the California License Plate FAQ page for current license plate info.)

 This page contains a list of license plate letter combinations historically banned by the California DMV. The offensiveness of most of the combinations on the list is in the eye of the beholder, but if you are easily offended, please leave this page now!

	Movie props with skipped letters
	Modern bases with skipped letters
	Newest sequential plate in 123ABC sequence

Previous to 1956, most California license plates were issued with mostly numbers and usually only one letter. Starting with the 1956 black on yellow base, California started issuing license plates in a three letter/three number numbering scheme. At this time, the California DMV established a list of three letter combinations never to be issued to plates, for various reasons.

It is possible that some combinations were banned to avoid confusion with official agencies, like CHP, CIA and FBI. It is also possible that some innocuous combinations were reserved by the DMV for use by the movie industry (all of the early prop plates in the calpl8s collection show up on this list). Mainly, most combinations were banned because they were potentially or blatently offensive.

However, times change, and starting in 1993, California decided to use some of these previously unissued three letter combinations for the sequential issues of the new optional UCLA Collegiate plate, which can only fit 6 characters. In the following years, other plates were added to this category, including the Arts plate, the Kids plate and the Veterans plate in 1994, and the Firefighters plate in 1996. All of these issues are 6 digit plates, and for the sequential issues of these plates, previously skipped letter combinations were assigned.

It is interesting and slightly humorous to note that the very first banned combination used on a modern plate was ALE for the UCLA plate. ALE is only the second combination on the list, but more importantly, beer drinking is associated with college life, making ALE an ironic choice for that base.

In late 2003, as all of the unassigned ABC123 combinations were close to running out, the first 123ABC combination was assigned to the Arts plate.

The List

In early 1979, a fellow license plate collector obtained a list of the infamous banned letter combinations from the California DMV. The 1979 list is reproduced below.

In 2002, another collector finally obtained the list of three letter combinations that are currently banned by the California DMV. This list is shorter than the 1979 list, and the currently banned combinations are shown below in dark red. In addition, four combinations have been added to the list since 1979. They are shown in bold dark red.

Of the remaining combinations that are no longer banned, notations have been added as to which combinations have been used in recent times and on which optional bases (in blue for the original ABC123 sequence, and in red for the new 123ABC sequence). All of the unbanned combinations have been confirmed as also used as three letter combinations on regular issued passenger plates in the 3 and 4 series.

California Banned Letter Combinations as of 1979:
(confirmed as still banned in 2002 shown in red; no longer banned in green)

ABM   ALE UA ANO   APA UA APE   APU A ARS   ASB   ASS   BAD   BAG   BAH A BAK A BAR A BED   BEG A BET VA BLA V  BRA   BUB V  BUD VV BUG AV BUM A  BUN   BUT   BVD   CAD AV CAN A  CAT AL CHP   CIA   CIP A

COC   COK   CON   COP   CQC   CQK   CQN   CUL   CUM   CUN   CUR   CUZ   DAM   DDT   DEW F  DIC   DIE   DIK   DOA   DUB F  DUD   DUF   DUM   DUN   EAK A  EEK A  EEW A  END A  EVE AF EZP A  FAG   FAN

FAT   FBI   FCK   FKU   FOC   FOK   FQC   FQK   FQU   FRY A  FUC   FUD   FUG   FUK   FUN   FUX   FUY   GAG F  GAT   GAY   GEE   GOD   GPU F  GQD   GUT   GYP F  HAD F  HAG   HAM   HEL   HEN   HEX F

HIC   HIK   HIV   HOG   HOR   HQR   HUG KH  HUJ V  HUN KH  HUT V  HUY V  HYE V  JAG V  JAP   JAZ   JEB V  JEW   JIG   JUG V  KAD F  KEG F  KKK   KOC   KOK   KON   KOX   KQC   KQK   KQN   KQX   LAF F  LAP KH

LAV KL  LAX KL  LAY   LSD   LUG KS  LYN KP  MEA A  MEE A  MEX   MTW A  MUG A  MUT A  NAG   NIG   NIP   NUB A  NUG A  NUN   OVA   PAP A  PAT A  PEA   PEE   PEK V  PET V  PEW   PIG   PIS   POT   POW   PPA F  PST

PUD   PUE F  PUG F  PUP F  PUS   PUW A  PYS   QVA   RAG   RAT   RAW   RAZ A  RED A  RUM A  RUT   SAC   SAD A  SAG A  SAK   SAM   SAP A  SAT A  SEX   SHT   SIF   SIN   SLA   SOB   SOT   SQB   SQT   SUC

SUK   SUX   TIT   TUB   UCK   UPP   UPU   URN   URP   USB   USR   USS A  VUC   VUK   VUX   WAD   WAG A  WAR   WED A  WOP   WQP   XUJ   XUY   YEB   YEP   YES KS  YID

Key to notes:

A - Arts Plate (1994)
F - Firefighter Plate (1996)
K - Kids Plate (1994)
      H - Hand symbol
      L - Love (heart) symbol
      P - Plus symbol
      S - Star symbol
U - UCLA Plate (1993)
V - Veterans Plate (1994)

Blue Letter - Denotes used in ABC123 sequence
Red letter - Denotes used in 123ABC sequence

Notes last updated: 03/28/08 9:48 AM

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