Hi, I am looking for a personalised car registration number (UK) for
my daughter. Her name is Jaya and her initials are JSKM.  I would like
to know if there are any car registration plates available for her
name such as J4Y4 or even J474 or J4YA5 or JAYAS or J4 Y45...the
combinations are endless.  Where can I purchase a good number plate? 
My budget is £500 and under.  Thanks.

Hello Sheilakm

Thank-you for posting this question which is an interesting one to solve.

The UK car registration plate area is strictly controlled by the DVLA.
They have a website that contains all the information that we need to
help solve your problem.

http://www.dvla.gov.uk

The problem is reduced somewhat as not every possible combination of
numbers and letters are available.  The law states that only certain
combinations of numbers and letter can be used.  There have been a
number of formats over the years, the oldest number plates on the road
are simply a number and up to 3 letters, for example A1 or 456PIG. 
These were replaced by number plates in this format ABC123D, where the
number could be any number from 1 to 999 (but there had to be 3 start
letters and one closing letter).  These in turn were replaced by
reversing the format to A123BCD.  Finally there is the format we have
today which is AB12CDE but there are strict regulations on the initial
two letters and the numbers.

More on this can be read about here:
http://www.dvla.gov.uk/faq/faq_number_plates.htm

As you have already indicated there are also some letters that look
like numbers on the number plates which allows us further
combinations:

A = 4
S = 5
Y = 7

Here are some examples I have thought of and tested for availability:

JA74SKM - not available as "74" has not been released by the DVLA
J474SKM - not available
JAY4 - not available
JAY45 - not available
JAY4S - not available
J4YAS - not available
J474SKM - not available
J474CAR - not available
J4Y4 - not an allowed combination
J474 - not an allowed combination
J4YA5 - not an allowed combination
JAYAS - not an allowed combination
J4 Y45 - not an allowed combination

As you can see with the information I have on your daughter's name it
is not easy to find a match!

Some allowed combinations from the DVLA site would be JA02YAM,
JA03YAM, JA04YAM, JA51YAM, JA52YAM, JA53YAM.  These are all priced at
£499.

Some other combinations I thought of:
J (year of birth?) SKM - for example J 72 SKM if she was born in 1972
J (year of birth) AYA

There is also a nice name plate finder which might help increase your search here:
http://www.regtransfers.co.uk/main/searchs/namesinitials.asp

There are a large number of alternative sites which offer the same or
similar features some of which allow you to put free "wanted" adverts
on them to help you track down a specific plate.

Some other examples of sites that allow you to search for plates:
http://www.nngb.com/
http://www.newreg.co.uk/
http://www.number-plates-car-registrations.co.uk/
http://www.carplates-online.co.uk/
http://www.regtransfers.co.uk/main/searchs/supersearch.asp
http://www.dvla-som.co.uk/home/en/Search/p/globalnew?searched=yes&string=jaya

The quickest site I found to use was the nngb.com site or the official DVLA site.

You may also find it helpful to buy a magazine such as AutoTrader
which will have adverts in it for companies that specialise in buying
and selling number plates.  They will though be using the same
databases as the online sites.

I hope this answer has helped you in your search.  Should you have any
further questions on this subject please ask for clarification and I
will do my best to help.

Hi palitoy-ga - apologies for the delay in rating your answer!  It is
very detailed and helpful - thank you

Hi, I see from your posting that you?ve probably got your number plate
sorted by now but I can recommend a firm based in Swansea that I have
used to a get a private number plate for my wife as a gift last year.
Their website is http://www.plates4less.co.uk where you can order
online or their sister site where there?s lots of information on
personal number plates is http://www.vrm-group.co.uk .
They were trustworthy and very helpful offering a speedy service. I
would definitely use them again. Their prices start at £199 which is
well below your budget but there is the dreaded VAT and government
transfer fee to pay. Hope this helps anyway.

A nice way to search for number plate combinations can be found at <a
href="http://www.plates4less.co.uk">www.plates4less.co.uk.</a> The
site provides innovative ways to search and gives you the option to
find a number plate by browsing through popular plate categories, and
3-letter combinations among with the usual way of searching a database
by entering your criteria