Kentucky license plate format checker.

Kentucky's Kentucky Transportation Cabinet publishes length and character rules for personalized plates. This checker applies exactly those rules to what you type and says which part is off. It does not check availability and it does not claim any combination will be approved.

What Kentucky publishes

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's personalized plates page, under "Requirements & Restrictions", says: "Personalized passenger plates may contain up to six alphas and/or numeric characters in addition to a space or dash." It adds that "in some cases, the characters may impede the plate's design" and recommends reviewing the plate's image to choose the spacing. For motorcycles: "up to five alpha and/or numeric characters in addition to a space or dash."

Two more rules sit beside the length limits. A combination "may only appear on one plate at any given time", and "as of July 19, 2023, the letters I, Q and U have been eliminated from all new personalized plate applications", which the page says is consistent with the visibility rules already in place for standard plates.

How the checker reads what you type

It capitals your entry and counts letters and digits separately from a space or dash. For a passenger plate it allows up to six letters and digits and at most one space or dash; for a motorcycle plate, five. It flags any I, Q or U, and any other character the page does not list. The Cabinet's wording says "a space or dash" and this checker reads that as one separator; confirm with the Cabinet if you want two.

What this page does not cover

The Cabinet page quoted here describes personalized plates. It does not print the letter-and-number pattern of the standard-issue series, so this page does not state one. Availability is decided by the Cabinet: its page says plates can be looked up through the Plate List application, by choosing a plate design and "Personalize this plate".

Check availability and apply

Use the agency page itself: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Personalized Plates. For other states' rules on the same topic, see the related tools below, and driver license validity by state for licenses rather than plates.

Sources

Retrieved 2026-11-02. Each source was opened and read against the claim next to it.

• Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Personalized Plates: passenger limit of six and motorcycle limit of five characters plus a space or dash, one plate per combination, I, Q and U eliminated from July 19, 2023, plate-list availability steps, appeal process.