Personalized license plates are available widely in the United States now and many Americans pay a premium to their Motor Vehicle Department to make a personal statement with their vehicle. Fees vary from state to state. As an interesting historical note, the first vanity license plate dates back to 1931, in the State of Pennsylvania.
Aside from just being fun and expressive, the fees charged by state for personalized license plates have raised millions of dollars in well needed revenue, much targeted to good causes such as the environment or education. Some vanity license plates can be deemed offensive to some while perfectly fine to others. In one noted case, in Florida, Steven Miles, who is the vice president of an organization called "Atheists of Florida," had the plate "ATHEIST" for sixteen years and then one day the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles determined that the number plate was "obscene or objectionable" and could no longer be used. Miles protested, and was allowed to keep it.
So, you can't just put anything your mind comes up with on your personalized license plates, and over thirty states have laws that restrict inappropriate language or phrases. These can include things like racially offensive terms, explicitly sexually oriented messages, and some states even have a list of no-no words for vanity plates, reminiscent of the famous George Carlin comedy routine known as "The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television," though we're sure the license plate word lists are even longer. We went looking on the web for a canonical list but have yet to find one.
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