Out of 55,000 submissions for vanity license plates in the state of Illinois in 2025, officials rejected only around 550. That’s not too bad, considering the plates that were deemed too wild.

Just like in Ohio, which rejected almost 900 vanity license plates in 2025, Illinois has no law against pushing the limits of what is allowed. However, officials will shut down vanity license plate requests that become “inflammatory, profane, offensive, or too difficult to read.”

At least that’s the definition Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias used to define the license plates rejected in 2025.

“As always, we appreciate the creativity of Illinoisans who want customized license plates, but they must meet certain standards of good taste and decency,” he said in a YouTube video.

“Some of the rejected plates included BBL, which apparently stands for Brazilian butt-lift, which had to be explained to me,” Giannoulias continued. “BLUBALN, I don’t think they’re referring to DePaul’s basketball program. BRICKED. This apparently has nothing to do with construction. I would recommend just Googling that one.”

Giannoulias shared a few more like TYPESHT, SYBAU, and IBPOOPN, which he admitted is “pretty funny.” He also mentioned ICUP, which he said was apparently requested by a 10-year-old. Then there was PRIUSSY, SNDNUSZ, and BDASMOM, which he said he has to “keep telling my wife to stop requesting.”

“There are lots more that we had to deny that are far raunchier and inappropriate that I cannot read on camera,” he added.

A Delaware resident temporarily halted the state’s vanity plate program after the state recalled hers

Last May, a Federal Judge ruled Delaware’s vanity plate program is unconstitutional after a woman sued the state. The woman, a survivor of breast cancer, sued following the recall of her plate that read FCANCER. The Delaware DMV said her plate did “not represent the division or the state in a positive manner.”

The judge in the case rejected the DMV’s claim that lettering and numbers on vanity plates were “government speech.” He also said Delaware’s vanity plate regulations allow discrimination and are arbitrarily enforced.

“The United States District Court of Delaware has ruled that various sections of Delaware Code which authorized vanity license plates and the Division of Motor Vehicles’ vanity license plate regulation are unconstitutional,” a Delaware Department of Transportation spokesperson told WBOC News. “As a result, the vanity tag program operated by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles is suspended effective immediately, and no new vanity tags will be issued.”