Illinois Reveals the Vanity License Plates It Banned for 2025—and Some Are Hilarious

Everyone loves a tasteful, funny vanity plate. At roughly $200 or more for a personalized number plate in Illinois, it pays to make sure yours stands out for the right reasons. Still, the state draws a firm line where creativity turns into something else entirely. A new video from Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias shows exactly where that line landed for 2025, revealing the latest batch of rejected plate requests. Some are juvenile, some are crude, and most are so great that we’re disappointed they didn’t get approved.

Full List of Banned 2025 Plates

Each year, Illinois reviews tens of thousands of vanity and personalized plate requests, and 2025 was no exception. Out of more than 55,000 submissions, just over 550 were denied – about 400 fewer vanity plates that Ohio rejected. While the full Illinois list was not published, Giannoulias highlighted ten memorable rejects in the video:

• BBL
• BLUBALN
• BRICKED
• TYPESHT
• IBPOOPN
• ICUP
• PRIUSSY
• SNDNUDZ
• BDASMOM
• SYBAU

Out of the bunch, our favorite would have to be having “PRIUSSY” on any generation of Toyota Prius. If any of these don’t make sense to you, the Secretary of State offered some simple advice in the video: Just Google it.

A Fine Line Between Accept and Reject

Many of you might argue that these plates mentioned are vague enough not to offend anyone outright, or so clever that you’d let the vulgarity slide. Furthermore, far raunchier plates have slipped through approval systems over the years. To illustrate that gray area, we delved into the r/LICENSEPLATES subreddit that highlights some of the funniest, most creative, and most controversial custom plates ever accepted. Here are some of the highlights:

• FCKOFF
• LICENSE
• OMW2FYB
• XQQQSME
• ANL 8OY
• FA99OT
• OH4FKSK
• 3ATNA55
• MICRO P

And many others we’re not allowed to post on here without getting some very strong-worded comments and letters. Yet, they made the cut, even if it was just temporarily. The inconsistency follows suit regarding number plate frames too. Florida, for example, has recently hunkered down on plate decorations by criminalizing license plate covers.

Creativity Still Wins

Ultimately, approval comes down to a small group of people deciding whether your joke belongs on public roads. That is why some drivers lean into cryptic spellings to spruce up a boring-looking license plate, hoping a reviewer will miss what “SYBAU” or “OMW2FYB” actually means. What works in a group chat does not always translate to something appropriate for all ages. That said, creativity is clearly not running dry. Judging by this year’s rejects, though, plenty of drivers will keep trying anyway.