Kansas issued 26,000+ personalized license plates. See 13 that were rejected
This story references profanity and may be offensive to some readers.
A loud truck and a sibling’s initials. That’s the justification a Kansas resident gave in May for the personalized license plate “1LOUDMF.”
But the Kansas Department of Revenue rejected the plate. Staff cited the Urban Dictionary, saying the it meant “one loud motherf---er.”
“1LOUDMF” was just one of 44 unique personalized license plate configurations rejected by KDOR between June 2024 and May 2025. The Star obtained the full list through a Kansas Open Records Act request.
During that time, the state issued 1.1 million license plates, approximately 2% of which were personalized plates.
Each customized plate must follow Kansas law, which says the government should reject an application if “the letters or numbers designated by the applicant have a profane, vulgar, lewd or indecent meaning or connotation.”
People tried to sneak profanity and sexual references into their license plates with acronyms, spelling words backwards and replacing letters with numbers.
The most common profanity identified by the KDOR was “f---,” with 16 instances, followed by “a--“ with 6 and “sh--“ with 5.
While NOFAQ theoretically stood for “no frequently asked questions,” the state said it could be read as “no f---s given.”
And while “HAWKTUA” is the punchline of a viral video, as one applicant explained, the KDOR pointed out the context, saying “Hawk Tuah” references a “blow job.” The video published in June 2024 was also a trend across the state line, where the Missouri Department of Revenue rejected 22 unique configurations of letters and numbers meant to reference the phallic slogan.
Kansas residents also attempted to make license plates out of their alleged screen names, which included “KUMONME” and “OFKSGVN.”
The state rejected “CRM PIE” because they said it referred to ”traditional sex.” And although KDOR said “31OH22A” represented “a--hole” backwards, the applicant wrote the meaning was, “When I got my retirement.”
Here is a selection of 13 license plate configurations rejected by the KDOR, alongside the applicant’s justification:
- BEARAZZ: “Husband’s nick name and what wife likes”
- HO4LIFE: “Name of car Tahoe 4 life”
- HNTAI: “Nickname of the vehicle”
- O5H1T: “Son’s baseball number”
- 2NP1NS: “2 new parents 1 son”
- ILLFYB: “I’ll follow you back”
- QUICKAF: “Quick and son’s initials”
- COXLONG: “nickname”
- FA5T AF: “Fast AJ Foyt” (Foyt is former racecar driver)
- FUF4LIF: “Memories”
- 5MLP3NS: “HTML5 computer code”
- FKU2J: “Franks klink ulery investments”
- IMFKNL8: “Study group science”
How does Kansas review vanity license plate applications?
The state’s vehicle division has a manually updated system that automatically flags potentially profane applications, Zach Denney, spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Revenue, told The Star in 2024.
If someone tells the Department of Revenue about a potentially inappropriate Kansas plate on the street, multiple senior officials might review it. The driver could be asked to return their license plate and receive a different personalized one free of charge.
What about the First Amendment?
License plates are not protected speech under the First Amendment. Since Kansas vanity plates have to follow the state vehicle law, a court would need to find that the state law violates the First Amendment.
This happened in Rhode Island, where a Tesla owner was allowed to display a vanity plate reading FKGAS.
How do you get a personalized license plate in Kansas?
You can apply for a vanity license plate at your county treasurer’s motor vehicle office by filling out the TR715 form.
For cars and trucks, each plate can have up to seven characters, including numbers, letters and spaces, while motorcycles only have space for five. Check online to make sure no one has your configuration of numbers and letters.
A five-year vanity license plate will set you back $45.50, according to KDOR, in addition to regular registration costs.
Kansans have a new, monochrome look to consider for their plates. In July, the KDOR started offering a blackout design, similar to popular plates in Iowa, Colorado and Minnesota.
Have more questions about oddities in Kansas? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
