These Washington Custom License Plates Went Too Far

If you’ve ever seen a custom license plate in Washington state, you might feel inspired. My friend at work just showed off his personalized plate early today. It made me wonder how creative I could get with my own personalized plate. 

Officials in Olympia have strict rules about what those plates can say. 

This year alone, over 170 requests for personalized plates were denied by the Washington State Department of Licensing for various reasons. Before Labor Day Weekend, nearly 1 million license plates were issued, including over 3,000 custom plates. 

Anyone can request a plate with 1-7 characters for standard plates and 1-6 for smaller plates, such as motorcycles. 

You can check if your idea is allowed and available on the Washington State Department of Licensing website. 

Applications can be denied if offensive, misleading, vulgar, profane, sexually suggestive, racial or ethnic slurs, related to drugs or illegal activities, derogatory, slanderous, or against highway safety. 

This year's rejected designs included references to sex, drinking, drugs, crimes, swear words, and dirty jokes.

Washington rejected swear-inspired custom license plates in 2025, including:  

YOHOE 

DADSHOE 

HI5AF 

H 5 AF 

DUCCOFF 

DUCKOFF 

PVSYWGN 

FATBSTD 

FAT85TD.

State officials deemed these plate ideas too dirty to approve

T BUTT 

BOINKY 

SMOLLPP 

ITS HUGE 

D1LF 

DILF 

SPANK5 

SPANKER 

DONG333 

69 SEC 

DUCKME

Washington license plates that referenced drugs or alcohol were rejected 

GH8 13 

GHB 13 

W1NE 30 

UNCORK 

CHMPGN 

CHAMPGN 

MINIBAR 

M1N1B4R 

TIPSY

Crime-related custom plates rejected by officials include

M4LICE 

MALICE 

ILLEG4L 

ILLEGAL 

4RSON 

ARRRSON 

4RRRSON