The Andrew Turnbull License Plate Gallery




The Idle Pen: A Look at Numbering

For this month's topic, let's take a look at one of the most inseperable facets of automobile license plates: Numbering systems and conventions.

ABC-123 format

Ideally, numbering formats are easily-read, easily-memorized, and provide enough combinations to last a jurisdiction a while. Perhaps for this reason, the ABC-123 (or reverse 123-ABC) format is one of the most popular in use: It is easily read and memorized, and conceivably allows for up to 17 million combinations without duplication. 41 out of 50 states and all Canadian provinces have issued three letter/three number plates at one point or another.

In practice, the conditions are hardly ideal: Jurisdictions often run out of combinations in existing formats and need to start anew. When continuing a numbering system for many years or decades, even places with a low or average number of registrants will run out of numbers sooner or later. So, there are a variety of ways around this; all of which have their own trade-offs.

It would seem best to space letters and numbers apart from each other, and space characters in groups of no more than four digits each. Telephone and Social Security numbers are broken up into chunks of three or four digits for a reason: Chunks of five unspaced digits or more are harder to memorize. Along with ABC-123/123-ABC, the most-easily read and memorized formats would appear to be 123-456 and AB-1234 (or 1234-AB). None allow for as many combinations, however, and 2 letter/4 number formats can be partially obscured by bumper-mounted trailer hitches on some vehicles.

A seven-digit format such as ABC-1234 isn't too hard to memorize and allows for a far greater number of combinations. However, to fit inside the conventional North American 6"x12" plate size, seven-digit combinations invariably require the use of narrow dies that are hard to read at a distance. Sometimes wider dies can be employed at the expense of the space between the letters and the numbers (i.e., ABC1234), but this only results in a squished-together format that's even harder to read. Michigan and New Jersey have dabbled briefly with an unspaced ABC1234 format before, only to turn to alternative formats or spacing measures immediately thereafter.

Tag soup format

Alternatively, other jurisdictions have employed other, more creative numbering conventions that can only be described as "tag soup." Witness formats like 1AB C23 (Maryland), 12A B23 (Massachusetts), or those of most any state that employs direct county coding: 1A2345, 1A2345B, 1-2ABC, or 1A B2345 to name a few. Although they mercifully did away with county coding in the 1970s, Florida is perhaps the worst in this regard: Not only did it employ numbering schemes as varied and unusual as ABC 12D, AB1 23C, A12 34B, A12 BCD, and A12 3BC for passenger plates, but it did so simultaneously. The state's extra-narrow, overstylized dies don't help for legibility, either. Nothing can beat Tennessee's county-coded formats of the mid-'80s for sheer unreadability, though: 1-A2B34 for single-digit counties; 12-3A45 for double-digit ones. Got that?

Strangely enough, no North American jurisdication has employed an ABCD-12 (or 12-ABCD) format. Such a configuration would allow for more combinations than a three letter/three number format, not require narrow and hard-to-read dies, and be just as easy to read and memorize as an AB-1234 format. The potential for four-letter words obviously exists (and may be why such a format has so far been avoided), but you'd think states and provinces would have enough experience from years of issuing vanity plates and screening out potentially-offensive combinations for this not to be a problem. In addition, even if vowels were skipped, such a format could yield over 19 million combinations.

I have another, more maverick suggestion, though: Increase the physical size of the license plate, and use an ABC-1234 format with wide and legible dies (such as the sort West Virginia use).

A 6"x12" plate size may be a North American convention, but there is nothing legal which obligates states or provinces to adhere to the standard. True, wider plates don't fit on some cars; however, a quick look up and down the street would reveal that the vast majority of vehicles on the road would accomodate a license plate a couple inches wider in size without problems. In any case, a jurisdiction could issue 6"x14" ABC-1234 format plates to motorists by default and offer 6"x12" ABC-123 plates upon request if the need arose, and maintain 6"x12" six-digit optional issues for greatest compatibility as well. Anyone with me?

For a coda of factual information, let's take a look at the actual passenger numbering formats currently in use by various jurisdictions. Codes of various types are italicized.

Alabama 1A2345B, 12A345B
Alaska ABC-123
Arizona ABC-123, 123-ABC
Arkansas 123 ABC
California ABC 123, 123 ABC, 1ABC234
Colorado AB-1234, ABC-123, ABC1234, 123-ABC
Connecticut 123-456, AB-1234, 123-ABC, others
Delaware 123456
District of Columbia 123-456, AB-1234
Florida A12 BCD, A12 3BC, 123 ABC
Georgia 123 ABC, 1234 AB, 12345 AB, 1234 ABC, ABC 1234
Hawaii ABC 123
Idaho 1A B2345, 1A BC234, A 123456, others
Illinois 123 456, AB 1234, ABC 123, A12 345, A12 3456, 123 4567
Indiana 1A2345, 12A3456, 1AB234, 12AB345
Iowa 123 ABC
Kansas ABC 123
Kentucky 123 ABC
Louisiana ABC 123
Maine 1234 AB, others
Maryland ABC 123, 1AB C23
Massachusetts 123-ABC, 123-456, 1234 AB, 12A B34, 123 AB4, others
Michigan 123 ABC, ABC 123, 1AB C23, ABC 1234
Minnesota ABC-123
Mississippi 123 ABC
Missouri 123 ABC, 1AB 23C
Montana 1A-23456, 1A-2345B, 12-3456
Nebraska 1-A2345, 12-A345, ABC 123
Nevada 123-ABC, others
New Hampshire 123 456, 123 4567
New Jersey ABC-123, 123-ABC, ABC-12D, ABC1234, AB-123C
New Mexico 123-ABC, ABC123, others
New York ABC-1234, others
North Carolina ABC-123, ABC-12, ABC-1234
North Dakota ABC 123
Ohio ABC 1234, AB12CD
Oklahoma AB-1234, ABC-1234, ABC-123, 123 ABC
Oregon 1A-2345, ABC 123, ABC 123, 123 ABC
Pennsylvania ABC-1234
Rhode Island AB-123, 123-456, others
South Carolina 123 ABC
South Dakota 1AB 234, 12A 345, 12A B34, 12A BC3
Tennessee 123-ABC
Texas ABC-12D, A12-BCD, 123-ABC
Utah ABC 123, 123 ABC
Vermont 12345, 1A234, 123A4, 1AB23, 12AB3, ABC 123
Virginia ABC-123, ABC-1234
Washington 123-ABC
West Virginia 1A 2345, AB 1234, 1AB 234, ABC 123
Wisconsin ABC-123, 123-ABC
Wyoming 1-2345, 1-234B, 1-23AB, 1-2ABC, 12-3456, 12-345A, others
Alberta ABC-123
British Columbia ABC-123, 123-ABC
Manitoba ABC 123
New Brunswick ABC-123
Newfoundland & Labrador ABC-123
Northwest Territories 12345, 123456
Nova Scotia ABC-123
Nunavut 12345N
Ontario ABC-123, 123-ABC, ABCD-123
Prince Edward Island ABC-123, AB 123, A1 234, AB C12, AB 123
Québec 123A456, ABC 123, 123 ABC
Saskatchewan ABC 123, 123 ABC
Yukon Territory ABC12
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Last update April 7, 2007.