Ask any driver with a personalized license plate about their car tag and they will gladly tell you what it means. For example -- AUNAUT -- she's a NASA astronaut who went to Auburn. IMLIVN -- a 10 year cancer survivor. BETOPLS -- drives a convertible. SMILES -- not a dentist, her name is Sylvia Miles. My all time favorite is RUPNOK -- he's a urologist (are you peeing OK).

A personalized car tag is like a moving mini billboard, like a tattoo for your car, it's your 15 seconds of fame when you pass or are being passed on the parkway. It may be a name, an occupation, a hobby or your philosophy of life in seven letters or less. Some bring a smile. Some are totally indecipherable. Some make you wonder why anyone would pay to put that on a vehicle.

Alabama has approximately 230,000 personalized license plates. Almost 50,000 of the 90,000 University of Alabama car tags are personalized. 32,500 of the 57,000 Auburn tags carry a personalized message.

If you personalize a standard tag in Alabama it will cost $50.00. In addition to the standard car tags, there are 122 specialized plates including colleges, military, clubs and organizations. Of these, 79 specialty tags can be personalized at no extra charge after paying the fee for the specialized tag. The best deal is to buy a Helping Schools tag. It will only cost $15.00 and the money goes to the public school of your choice. You can have it personalized at no additional cost.

Personalized license plates have always fascinated me. My car tag is ISCOUT because at one time I ran a website for the Boy Scouts. I have thought about changing it to 10 47 which in Madison County scanner code means "send a photographer." After looking online I discovered that in other parts of the country 10 47 could mean "armed, dangerous & wanted". Might not be the message I want to convey.

Over the years I have photographed lots of personalized plates, mostly in parking lots. On occasion I have followed a driver with a really good plate hoping they will stop so that I can include their message in my collection. Public gatherings are also a great place to find specialized messages (college alumni meetings, caving convention, sporting events hunting expos, etc.)

The messages on the tags tend to fall into categories such as: collegiate, religious, sports, feelings or names. Click on the links to our car tag galleries to see some of the more interesting personalized plates I have found.

*University of Alabama - Roll Tide for Alabama football? License plates have their own 'Bama language

*Auburn University - Auburn fans get creative when spelling 'T16ER,' '2MER5' on personalized license plates

*Other Colleges - College football fanatics go beyond 'Roll Tide', 'War Eagle' with their license plates

*Sports - What's an umpire to do when away from home plate? Call you out with license plate

*Space/NASA - Space professionals, fans turn their personalized car tags into fun puzzles

*Health Care - RUPNOK? Huntsville urologist's specialty tag proves laughter is the best medicine

*Names - What's in a name? On a personalized tag, it may be letters, numbers, fact or fiction

*Automobiles - That's a ragtop fan, not exotic dancer sporting the 'BETOPLS' vanity tag

*Feelings - How are you feeling today? License plates that help 'express yourself'

*Religious - Alabama license plates spread the gospel -- and raise a few questions

*Animals - Showing some love for furry friend with personalized animal license plates

*Career/Occupations - Are you a JKOFALL, TOPMODL or ANIM8OR? Residents show off careers with personalized license plates

*Express Yourself/Miscellaneous - We have 'NOCLU' what some of these personalized license plates refer to

As creative as some car owners are, not every idea makes the cut. The Department of Motor Vehicles has rejected more than 6,000 personalized tags.

Before applying for a personalized car tag, go to the Alabama State Department of Motor Vehicles web site where you will find a search page to see if the tag you want is available.

A standard tag allows the owner up to seven letter/number combinations. Most specialty tags only have room for 5 or 6 letters or numbers because of logos in the design. If you are having trouble making your message fit you might want to check out the online Dictionary of Custom License Plate Terms which can help to shorten your message.

Some messages are easily understood while others take more effort to unscramble. Some are impossible. You might want to sharpen your interpretation skills by taking the License Plate Quiz where you get to decipher unusual car tags.

Do you have a plate you're proud of? We'd love to see it.

You can submit your photos by uploading them directly to AL.com and selecting "Your photos: Vanity license plates" as the gallery name. Just make sure you have an AL.com account (you can sign up at al.com/register) and go to al.com/photos.

You can also email them to photos@al.com, and an AL.com staff member will upload your photo for you.

If you are shooting pictures with your iPhone or Android, you can submit photos via our free AL.com app. Once you're in the app, tap "More" and scroll until you see "Submit Photo."