“The license plate is there for one reason and one reason only: so that someone hit by a car can get the information of who hit them and get that to the police,” Mr. Heller said. “It’s a functional thing, not a decorative thing. It’s not a promotion for tourists.”

Mr. Heller said he prefers New York’s current blue-and-gold plates. “One thing about New York, it hasn’t succumbed to the playfulness of other state’s license plates, which I think is terrific,” he said. “Keep them plain.”

Looking at license plates from states around the country, Mr. Heller said, it is less common to find plates that aim to make statements or promote a cause.

Some tags, including South Dakota’s, which features Mount Rushmore, depict singular iconography. But many states have chosen to avoid the temptation. Neither the Hollywood sign nor the Golden Gate Bridge is on California’s plates. The Gateway Arch is absent from Missouri’s.

“There’s nothing really New York-y other than the Statue of Liberty or Niagara Falls or the isle of Manhattan,” he said. “I would think there would be a lot of people in other parts of the state who might find those objects as exclusive instead of inclusive.”

Mr. Heller’s advice for a redesign?

“Every few years you just change the color of the license plate.”

Icon-troversy averted.