Your name on a number plate
Is there a car out there with your name on it? Type a name, a nickname or any short word and see every vehicle on the DVSA's MOT record whose plate spells it, including the private plates that swap letters for numbers, like 5 for S or 4 for A. Each one comes with its make, model and colour.
Names to try
Each of these opens the plates that spell it, numbers for letters included. From there a link takes the same plates into the full search, to narrow them by make, colour or plate year.
How plates spell with numbers
A plate holds two to seven characters, and most short words were issued as plates decades ago. So private plates borrow numbers that look like letters, and the search reads them the same way:
- 5 for S, as in 5ARAH
- 4 for A, as in D4VE or 54M
- 0 for O or D, as in B055 or 0AVE
- 1 for I or J, as in 1AN or 1AMES
- 8 for B, as in 8EN
- 2 for Z, and 6 for G
The full list, and why some lookalikes are left out, is in the lookalike characters guide. The space on a plate is not counted, so a word can run across it. The results are spaced to show the word, so CHR 151C reads CHR15 1C for CHRIS, with the real plate written underneath. Plates that spell the word in plain letters come first.
Getting one of your own
Every plate shown here is already on a vehicle. Registrations nobody holds yet are sold by the DVLA at GOV.UK and by private plate dealers, and the owner of one that is taken can sell it if they choose.
Two rules are worth knowing first. A plate can't make a vehicle look newer than it is, so a 24 plate can't go on a 2015 car. And the characters have to be shown as issued, in the standard font and spacing: a plate spaced or styled to read more like a word can fail an MOT, bring a fine of up to £1,000 and lose its owner the registration.
What it can't tell you
The MOT record describes vehicles, not people. It holds no keeper names and no addresses, so nothing here can say who owns a plate or where the car is kept.
A vehicle shows up only once it has an MOT record, so one under three years old may be missing, and a plate moved to a new car shows the car it is on now. The words you look up are not written down: the privacy notice has the detail.
Common questions
Is there a car with my name on its plate?
Type your name into the box above. The search shows every vehicle on the MOT record whose plate contains it, spelt with letters or with the numbers that look like them.
Why do some results use numbers?
Most short words were issued long ago, so private plates spell them with numbers that look like letters. SARAH is often 5ARAH or 54RAH, and the search looks for those readings too.
Is it free?
Yes. Like everything on this site it is free to use, with no sign-up and nothing to unlock.
Can I buy a plate I find here?
Not from here. Every plate shown is already on a vehicle. The DVLA and private plate dealers sell registrations nobody holds yet, and the owner of one that is taken can sell it if they choose.
Is what I type kept?
No. The word is turned into a search and cut from the server's log. The search counts only its shape, with letters as L and digits as D, never the word itself.
Can it tell me who owns a vehicle?
No. The MOT record describes the vehicle and never the person: it holds no keeper names and no addresses.
Looking for one particular car instead? Try a partial plate search, or see how rare your own car is.