HOKTUAH, KDNAPPR: The Top and Bottom Rejected Vanity Plates of 2024

      Portland Press Herald via Getty Images, Edited by The Drive

      Vanity license plates are rarely amusing. No, your Dodge Challenger’s “M0P4R” plate doesn’t enhance your car’s appeal—it merely indicates that you spent $50 on a lackluster idea. Whenever someone proposes what they believe to be a humorous plate, numerous others have likely had that same combination of characters turned down by their state's DMV. Each year, various states unveil a selection of these rejected plates. Last year, the most commonly rejected license plate across many states was related to "Hawk Tuah," which is so disheartening that it doesn't even elicit a joke.

      The office of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias shared some of its 300 rejected plates from 2024, with “HOKTUAH” topping the list. It appears to be just one of many ways to squeeze last year’s least-favored catchphrase into a seven-character format, as we will discover. Also denied in Illinois were “THICCAF,” “AXEHOLE,” and my favorite, “UGEWANG” (that one gave me a chuckle). One of the submissions was “MUNCH,” which makes me think Illinois should broaden its perspective. What if that person was simply born in Munich and wanted to show pride?

      Here are some additional rejected plates released by Illinois’ DMV:

      GYATT

      BICHIN

      JAGWEED

      BADARSE

      ILLCUTU

      HOHOHOE

      ABADMF

      WEENIE

      DUCKOFF

      SHIDDED

      As for Oregon, the DMV turned down 386 custom plate applications, largely due to their inappropriate nature. But of course, “HWKTUA” was still among them. To Oregon’s credit, there was also “ASSM4N,” and seriously—are there no Seinfeld fans working at Oregon’s DMV? Maybe it’s just the influence of Portlandia, but I had hoped for a better sense of humor from Oregonians.

      Here are some creations from Oregon’s fleet of license plate writers:

      H0ERUN

      FARTN

      P00P00

      R4WD0G

      B00BAF

      HAWK2A

      69L0L

      News5Cleveland published the complete list of rejected vanity plates from Ohio for 2024, and there are certainly some notable entries there. On the plus side, I didn’t notice any Hawk Tuah plates. However, the disappointing part is that Ohio's submissions were significantly less creative and more racist. Come on, Ohio.

      Here are some examples from the Buckeye state:

      GYATTM5

      POOPY 2

      B1G D1LF

      MAFIOSA

      1FUQU2

      2FUCT

      LFGO23

      BADB1SH

      KILLZZ

      Interestingly, Tennessee had a number of Muppets-themed license plate rejections, including “GONZO” and “KERMITT.” While there’s nothing wrong with Muppets, Tennessee, like many states, has regulations against references to creative works or public figures—which explains why “SNOOPY1” was also rejected. Once again, however, Hawk Tuah dominated in Tennessee, with over 40 varied submissions. And did someone genuinely believe “KDNAPPR” would be approved?

      Here are some of Tennessee’s rejected plates:

      PHUKOFF

      QANON

      FT LONG

      SHT BOX

      OMFGMOV

      PRNHUB

      NOTACOP

      ASS MAN

      DZZNUTS

      GUNSMOK

      Finally, we checked in with Oklahoma to see if it could steer away from the Hawk Tuah trend, but that was not the case. It was amusing for all of 47 seconds, folks. Let. It. Go. Yet it wasn’t only Haliey Welch’s signature phrase; there were also the childish “USHUTUP,” the very boomer “DMNKIDS,” and others like:

      AWOOOOO

      B00B1ES

      BA5ICAF

      GYAT

      ONLYFAN

      P00P

      RAPTURD

      WAPTUH

      WEDTWUK

      XSMOLPP

      I hate to sound like the “DMNKIDS” guy lamenting that things were better in my day, but 2024 appears to be a disappointing year for entertaining rejected vanity plates. The truth is, you don’t have to look far back—we’ve seen stronger contenders in recent years. This time around, most of what I encountered were racial slurs and the same old memes, repeated ad nauseam. We used to be a nation of creativity.

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