Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives

Definitions of License Plate Terms

This page explains license plate terminology and acronyms, with visual examples provided in some cases.

Latest noteworthy updates to this page

September 25, 2014 – Added definitions for the terms apportioned plate and pair. Added photo examples for the definitions blank and toy plate. Other minor text updates.
November 26, 2008 – Added definitions for the terms number plate, registration plate, and toy plate.

Definitions of license plate terms

Click on the links (the colored, underlined words) to see examples.

ALPCA: The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, the world's largest license plate collectors' organization, founded in 1954, with approximately 3,000 current members located worldwide. Visit ALPCA's web site.
apportioned plate: A license plate used on a commercial truck, bus, or trailer participating in the International Registration Plan (IRP). The vehicle is registered in a single state or province, but the vehicle's registration fees are apportioned, or divided proportionally, among multiple states or provinces, based on the mileage the vehicle traveled in each during the registration period.
base: A multi-year license plate that is intended to be renewed by attaching metal tabs or stickers, or by other means such as windshield stickers.
blank: (adjective or noun) A license plate that has not been embossed, and so does not have a serial number, and depending on the design, may not have a jurisdiction name, slogan, or other features. Or, a license plate normally made with a screened serial number, that in this instance does not have any serial number.
bolt hole: A hole in a license plate made at the time the plate was manufactured, to provide a means by which the plate may be attached to a vehicle.
bolt slot: An elongated bolt hole, intentionally manufactured that way. Bolt slots were a common feature of license plates before and shortly after plate dimensions and bolt hole locations became standardized in the 1950s, in order to increase the likelihood that a plate could be attached to a vehicle's mounting bracket without modification to either the plate or the bracket.
booster: Very similar to a novelty plate, but there is a subtle difference. Both are the unofficial plates that motorists in one-plate states put on the fronts of their vehicles to convey a personal message. Specifically, a booster plate would promote a real business, organization, or other entity of some kind, be it the dealer from whom the car was purchased, a favorite sports team, or perhaps even the motorist's home town or state. Not to be confused with vanity or personalized plates, or with organizational or special interest plates, which are all real license plates that convey a personal message. Booster plates are not license plates! They have nothing to do with licensing or registering a vehicle.
city strip, or county strip: A license plate of sorts, issued by a city, town, county, or other local jurisdiction, usually provided as evidence that local taxes have been paid on the vehicle. These are called strips because they are usually the width of a standard license plate, but are only a couple of inches high at most. City and county strips were extensively used in Virginia and North Carolina in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but were also issued in other states and decades. Note: the city strip shown in the link in this definition was previously in my trade box.
collector: A rather peculiar, but usually harmless person who compulsively accumulates expired license plates, which to normal people are useless (the license plates, that is). Well, come to think of it, they might think the same about the collector, too.
debossed: The opposite of embossed. A license plate or part of a license plate that has been intentionally stamped in the reverse direction than usual, causing the serial number or other features to be lower than the rest of the plate. Note: the plate shown in the link in this definition is a candid photo of a plate in actual use.
die: (noun) A device used for stamping features such as registration numbers onto license plates. The size and shape of the dies determine the size and shape of the embossed characters on the plate. Dies are to embossed plates what fonts are to flat plates, more or less.
embossed: A license plate or part of a license plate that has been stamped, causing features such as the serial number to be raised. Infrequently, the stamping is intentionally done from the reverse direction; such plates or features would be called debossed.
ex, or exc: Indicates that a license plate is in excellent condition.
f: Indicates that a license plate is in fair condition.
f/g: Indicates that a license plate is in fair-to-good condition.
flat: Neither embossed nor debossed. In recent years, more states are issuing plates on which the registration numbers are screened rather than stamped, resulting in a flat plate.
format, or serial format: The pattern of letters, numbers, etc. used for registration numbers for a particular type of license plate.
g: Indicates that a license plate is in good condition.
g/vg: Indicates that a license plate is in good-to-very-good condition.
m: Indicates that a license plate is in mint condition. Mint condition means the plate is unused and undeteriorated; it's still in the same condition as the day it was made.
m/c: License plate collectors' shorthand for a motorcycle license plate.
movie prop: A professionally-made facsimile license plate made to resemble a real one, at least from a distance. These are called "movie prop" plates regardless of whether they were used on a vehicle in a movie, television program, commercial, theatrical play, or whatever. Usually, these plates have made-up serial numbers that would not have been issued in real life, and they're often made of cardboard, plastic, or other material not typically used on real license plates. Unlike fake license plates, movie props are obviously not made with the intent to deceive unsuspecting license plate collectors.
natural: A multi-year base plate that was only used for one registration period and was not renewed. A natural may or may not have a year sticker or tab, depending on the practice of the particular state at the time, but at most the plate would bear a single year sticker. (However, a base plate with no year sticker, or only one year sticker, is not always a natural.)
nh: Indicates that a license plate has a nail hole in it. A plate with multiple nail holes would be indicated with a number preceding this abbreviation. For example, "3nh" would mean the plate has three nail holes. Usually, nail holes are rather small and not extremely obvious.
non-passenger: A license plate with a design or serial format that is not a normal issue for private passenger cars, regardless of whether the particular plate was actually registered to a car or something else. Obviously, a trailer plate is a non-passenger. A bus plate is a non-passenger, even though technically buses carry actual passengers. A plate with a handicapped symbol on it is also called a non-passenger, even though it probably was issued to a private passenger car. However, vanity plates and special interest plates are not usually referred to as non-passengers.
novelty plate: Very similar to a booster plate, but there is a subtle difference. Both are the unofficial plates that motorists in one-plate states put on the fronts of their vehicles to convey a personal message. Specifically, a novelty plate would be an expression of the motorist's personality. It might bear the image of a favorite cartoon character or favorite breed of pet, or a religious message, or it might be an expression that you'd typically find on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. Not to be confused with vanity or personalized plates, or with organizational or special interest plates, which are all real license plates that convey a personal message. Novelty plates are not license plates! They have nothing to do with licensing or registering a vehicle.
nrp: Indicates that a license plate needs to be repainted.
number plate: This is what the rest of the world, outside of the U.S. and Canada, calls a license plate.
organizational plate: A real license plate that in some way identifies the registrant as being a member of a specific organization. Similar to a special interest plate.
p: Indicates that a license plate is in poor condition.
pair: Two matching, and usually identical, license plates with the same registration number, intended to be displayed on the front and back of a vehicle, respectively.
passenger: A standard-issue license plate with a design and serial format issued to private passenger cars, regardless of whether the particular plate was actually registered to a car or something else. For example, in several states, the same design and serial format are issued to cars as well as light trucks. But such a plate would still be called a "passenger" even if it had been issued to a truck.
personalized plate: In most states, this term means the same thing as vanity plate, below. However, in a few states, there is a distinction between the two terms. In such states, a personalized plate has a standard-issue serial format, but the vehicle owner was able to order the plate with a specific serial number.
PL8, or PL8S: License plate collectors' shorthand for the words "plate" or "plates".
porcelain: Refers to a shiny ceramic material used to coat old license plates, or actual license plates made with such material. Porcelain plates were common during the first two decades of the 1900s, and were also issued by New Mexico in the 1920s and by Delaware in the 1940s. Porcelain is the same material used as the outer surface of bathtubs and sinks. On license plates, it was not a very durable material because it is very prone to being chipped.
prefix: The letter or letters at the beginning of a license plate serial number, "X" in this case.
pre-state: A license plate from before the time that a state manufactured and distributed license plates. Pre-states generally fall into three categories: homemade plates, plates made from kits, and plates issued by cities, towns, counties, or other local jursidictions. The first two categories of pre-states were used in cases where the state required vehicles to be registered and assigned a registration number, but they did not issue the actual license plate, leaving it up to each motorist to provide their own. Often, cities and towns required the registration of motor vehicles and issued license plates before the states did. Note: the plates shown in the links in this definition are not from my collection.
provenance: Documents, photographs, or similar historical evidence that serve to legitimize claims that a particular license plate is authentic, was issued to a particular individual, was used on a particular vehicle or type of vehicle, etc. Provenance is particularly valuable and useful when this information is of historical interest and is not otherwise evident from the plate itself. For example, a claim that a particular plate from decades past was issued to a celebrity who is now deceased might not be able to be substantiated, unless provenance such as registration paperwork linking the plate to the celebrity were also available.
registration plate: The legally accurate term for a license plate. Technically, vehicles are not actually licensed by the government, but rather they are registered with the government. That's also why the paperwork that accompanies a license plate is called the registration.
rp: Indicates that a license plate has been repainted.
run: (noun) A complete or extensive collection of license plates representing each year that that category of plates was issued. A less-than-complete collection is sometimes called a partial run or a mini-run.
sample: A license plate not valid for registration purposes, distributed by a state or other government body, that serves as an example of what a valid license plate would look like. Such plates typically have registration numbers that are all zeroes, or use the word "sample" in place of the registration number, so that they are clearly identifiable as not being valid.
screened: A license plate or part of a license plate that has graphic features or even serial numbers that are flat (not embossed or debossed). Screening is frequently used to apply the complex graphic designs used in most modern plates.
separator: An element that breaks up a string of letters or numbers in a serial number to aid readability, such as the commas in the number 1,000,000. Examples of separators would be a space, a non-graphic element such as a dash, or a graphic design of some type.
serial format, or just format: The pattern of letters, numbers, etc. used for registration numbers for a particular type of license plate.
serial number, or just serial: The unique registration number of a license plate; it may be all numeric, or may contain some combinations of letters and numbers, or, in the case of vanity plates, may even be all alphabetic or contain punctuation marks or other symbols.
set: A complete or extensive collection of some category of license plate. For example, a "year set" might include one plate from each state from a given year; a "type set" would include one of each type of license plate issued by a particular state.
shorty: A license plate that was made unusually short (from side to side) because it has relatively few serial number digits. Prior to U.S. license plates being standardized to 6 inches high by 12 inches wide in 1956, some states issued their plates in varying widths depending on the number of digits in the serial number.
souvenir: 1. Sort of a cross between a vanity plate and a sample plate. These are typically plates with names or other words embossed on real state license plate blanks, but which were intended only to be given out or sold as souvenirs and were never valid for registration purposes. Souvenir plates have been or are commonly made from Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania (Flagship Niagara base), and Virginia blanks, among others.
2. A plate that gives the appearance of possibly being a real plate, containing a real jurisdiction name and an apparent serial number, but which is not even made on a legitimate license plate blank. Often distributed as souvenirs at special events, and sometimes difficult to distinguish from real special event plates.
special event plate: A real license plate legal for short-term street use during (and possibly also shortly before and/or after) a special event of some kind that is indicated on the plate. Illinois in particular issues a lot of these. Washington, D.C. issued special event plates for presidential inaugurations from 1933 through 2001. (2005 inaugural plates were not legal for street use, and therefore were merely souvenirs.)
special interest plate: A real license plate that in some way identifies the registrant as having a particular personal interest or as supporting a particular cause. Similar to an organizational plate.
spotter: A person who pays careful attention to current license plates observed in actual use, noticing minute details about the plates themselves and how they are used, as well as the most trivial changes made to plates they're already familiar with. Some plate spotters like to make a photographic record of interesting plates they've encountered, and therefore can sometimes be found trolling parking lots with camera in hand.
stacked: Describes the characters of a license plate serial number that are located one above another. Or, describes the words or other features of a license plate that are placed one above another.
sticker box: A section of a base plate bounded by an embossed or screened border where sticker(s) are to be applied.
sticker well: A debossed section of a base plate where sticker(s) are to be applied.
suffix: The letter or letters at the end of a license plate serial number, "DG" in this case.
tab: A small metal attachment affixed to a base plate to identify its expiration date or to indicate that its registration has been renewed for another year, similar to today's stickers. These were widely used until the early 1960s, and were last used in the U.S. in Maine in 1967. The last usage in Canada was in Manitoba in 1970.
tab flap: The little "ears" or protrusions on one or both sides of a tab, which are inserted into a tab slot on a base plate and bent back in order to attach the tab securely to the plate.
tab slot: A slit or narrow opening in a base plate used to facilitate the subsequent attachment of a tab.
tag: Hey, I'm a Maryland boy, and in Maryland the word "tag" means an actual license plate. Same thing in North Carolina, where I now live. However, I'm aware that this usage is not universal, and so I've tried to avoid this term to avoid confusing the many people out there who have never had the good fortune of living in this part of the U.S. If I slip and use it somewhere, you'll now know what I meant. Some people from elsewhere use the term "tag" to mean a tab or sticker that is affixed to a license plate, but you'll never find that usage on my web site.
True story: I first discovered that there are non-Maryland people who don't know what a "tag" is during the mid-1980s, when I was showing a new guy around the office. He had just arrived from Wisconsin in order to take the job in Maryland. I took him to see the security guard to get a parking permit, and the guard had to make an entry in his log book or something. "What's your tag number?", the guard asked the new guy. Virtually everyone who had spent any time in Maryland or neighboring states would have immediately understood the question, but I never saw such a dumbfounded look in my life. This poor Wisconsin boy had no idea what on earth a "tag" was, or why the guard would think that he had one and would even know its "number". At the same time, the guard couldn't imagine why this newbie didn't understand such a simple question. I'm sure he was thinking that it's bad enough to not remember your tag number, but to not even know what a tag is, well, they sure must have hired a stupid one this time. Fortunately, I was on hand to translate.
toy plate: A miniature facsimile of a license plate, usually originally intended for children to attach to their bicycles just for fun.
type: Usually used in the plural, to refer to the various different kinds of license plates issued by a given state or other jurisdiction. For example, passenger car plates, trailer plates, and motorcycle plates would be considered to be different plate types.
vanity: A license plate issued by a state or other government body where the registrant has selected a personalized serial number in a different format than standard-issue plates. May also be called a personalized plate. Some people confuse vanity plates, which are real, with novelty plates, which are not real.
vg: Indicates that a license plate is in very good condition.
vg/ex: Indicates that a license plate is in very-good-to-excellent condition.
xh: Indicates that a license plate has an extra hole in it. Often, extra holes are drilled into the plate and are similar in size to bolt holes. Typically, extra holes were made by the original registrant in instances where the plate's manufactured bolt holes did not align with those of the mounting bracket. This was a fairly common occurrence in the 1950s and earlier, when license plate dimensions and bolt hole placement were not standardized. A plate with multiple extra holes would be indicated with a number preceding this abbreviation. For example, "2xh" would mean the plate has two extra holes.
year of manufacture (YOM) plate: A vintage license plate that has been authorized by a state motor vehicle department for current on-road use on a vehicle of a model year, or year of manufacture, that corresponds to the year the plate was originally issued or used. Note: the plate shown in the link in this definition is a candid photo of a plate in actual use.

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Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives

Definitions of License Plate Terms

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