Through some 35 years and eight successive New York State Department of Motor Vehicles commissioners, Dr. Victor Poleshuck enjoyed his custom license plate: “XX XY.”

For the retired obstetrician and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester, the plate was a conversation starter and a subtle homage to his profession.

The “XX” represented the female chromosomes and “XY” represented the male chromosomes. When he and his wife of 55 years drove together, the characters could have referred to them.

“My life deals with what happens when the XXs and XYs get together,” Poleshuck explained.

But he couldn’t explain a letter he received recently from the DMV informing him that his long-held plate was being rescinded because it was “objectionable.”

“I couldn’t understand what could possibly be objectionable,” Poleshuck, 77, said.

The letter, dated March 21, contained no explanation other than pointing to a regulation that authorizes the DMV commissioner to determine “at any time” that a plate is “objectionable.”

That regulation defines “objectionable” in part as plates deemed “obscene, profane, vulgar, depraved, or lewd” or that “refer to a sexual or intimate body part, area or function.”

The letter ordered Poleshuck to remove his plate, warning that driving with it was unlawful, and to replace it with an enclosed generic plate of “JHJ-8105.”

When had vanity become profanity at the DMV?

Poleshuck embraced the advent of so-called “vanity” license plates early.

As a college student in New Hampshire in 1963, he had one from that state that read, “VP&JF,” his initials and those of the woman who would become his wife, Joyce Forrest.

After he completed his Ob/Gyn residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in 1973, he ordered newly introduced specialized license plates for doctors.

Sometime around 1977, when New York began allowing motorists up to eight characters of their choosing on the license plates, Poleshuck ordered “STORK-2.” “STORK” was unavailable.

When Poleshuck got tired of being No. 2, he conceived of and ordered his “XX XY” plate. He recalled filling out the paperwork’s eight spaces like so: “(SPACE)XX(SPACE)(SPACE)XY(SPACE).”

Poleshuck can’t remember precisely when he applied for the initial plate, but the plate was of a design — blue characters on an orange base with a sticker box in the lower righthand corner — that could have only been issued between 1977 and 1986.

That license plate, like every other plate Poleshuck has ever owned, now sits in a box in the basement of his Pittsford home.

The DMV would eventually print the “XX XY” combination on five incarnations of New York license plates over four decades.

There were two so-called “Liberty” plates, introduced in 1986 and retired in 2000, that featured an image of a red Statue of Liberty emblazoned over a white base complemented by blue characters. One of them was the short-lived digital flat-plate variety.

In the early 2000s, Poleshuck received his blue and white “Empire State” plate, featuring a banner landscape image of the state, from Niagara Falls to New York City, along the top.

New York eventually reverted to the classic blue-on-gold motif with its “Empire Gold” plates, like the one stamped “XX XY” on the silver Toyota Highlander in Poleshuck’s garage.

Never did the letter combination raise a red flag at the DMV. Why now?

Tim O’Brien, a DMV spokesman, said the agency periodically reviews existing personalized license plates to make sure they adhere to regulations, but wouldn’t directly address what was “objectionable” about Poleshuck’s plate.

The DMV processes personalized license plate applications daily and has rejected thousands over the years. The agency even keeps a “Red Guide” of nearly 2,000 plates of varying degrees of obscenity that are permanently banned.

The DMV's Custom Plates Unit reviews applications, cross-references them with the Red Guide, and highlights any questionable combination of characters for a supervisor, according to published procedures for personalized plates.

The supervisor is to scour the Internet to decipher the meaning of the combination. If an “objectionable” one is found, the application is rejected and the applicant is notified by letter.

Google “XXXY,” and the results are references to XXXY syndrome, or 48,XXXY syndrome, a chromosomal condition that causes intellectual delays and infertility in men. Of course, “XXX” has also long been associated with pornography.

But neither combination mirrors Poleshuck’s plate, whose “XX” and “XY” are separated by two deliberate spaces.

Poleshuck noted the spaces, and the intended meaning of his plate, in an email he wrote to the DMV in response to its letter.

He got no reply until the Democrat and Chronicle inquired on his behalf. Within two hours, a DMV supervisor called Poleshuck to tell him that “a committee” had re-evaluated his plate and that he could keep it.

Poleshuck said he asked how his plate had caught the attention of the DMV. “I asked and asked and asked,” Poleshuck said. “She just wouldn’t answer.”

A possible explanation came from O’Brien, the DMV spokesman. He said custom plates with repeated letters, like Xs, Ys and Ws, can confuse law enforcement and other motorists.

“Upon further review of this specific plate, we determined that his long-held combination is acceptable,” O’Brien said.

The outcome pleased Poleshuck, but the episode had him shaking his head and reminiscing.

“I served during Vietnam,” he said. “I was a young physician at the time. I’ve been in government operations and I just know that these are the kinds of things that people in government can spin their wheels on.”

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at DANDREATTA@Gannett.com.