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History
learn more about the history of Manx number plates, from the series of numbers that were issued, to some of the more famous plates of the island.
Series Issued | Styles | Famous Plates
Series
The Isle of Man Government first introduced Manx number plates on the 1st of January 1906, the first Manx number plate being "MN-1". The first "MN" prefix series was followed by sequential numbers from "1" to "9999", as with the initial registrations issued in Britain starting 1903 ("A 1" to "YY 9999") and similar to the Jersey "J" prefix plates that are still issued today.
When "MN-9999" was reach in March 1935 "MAN" was used as a new prefix in the same fashion. "MAN-1" was therefore the first plate issued in this sequence, and is possibly the best know plate on the island due to its use on the Lieutenant Governor's car. Under the British system the Isle of Man might have used "AMN", "MAN" being part of the "AN" block of numbers. In exchange for "AMN", "MAN" was reserved from a list of numbers originally intended for West Ham (a district of the London borough of Newham), where "MAN" was made unavailable. For this reason, "AMN" registrations do not appear in Manx number plates.
"MAN" prefix plates were exhausted a year later in April 1936 with "MAN-999" to fit with a maximum of six alpha-numeric characters. The expected sequence using "BMN" as a prefix starting with "BMN-1" was then used with a sequential number, and the first letter changed alphabetically as each in turn was used up. For example after "BMN-999", "CMN-1" was used. The characters "I", "Q", "S" and "Z" were not used as it was thought that they were confusingly similar to "1", "O", "5" and "2" respectively.
"YMN-999" marked the end of the lettered prefix, and the entire system was reversed, starting with "1-MN" in May 1959, "9999-MN" leading to "1-MAN" in May 1964, and "999-MAN" leading to "1-BMN" later that same year in October 1964. "OMN" as a suffix caused some confusion as previously issued registrations from the 1959 "MN" suffix series for instance a number ending in zero, but today these are usually differentiate with a hyphen.
After "999-YMN" in November 1971, unused numbers from the original 1906 "MN" prefix series were re-issued until May 1974. In that month, "MAN" plates followed by up to three digits and a letter suffix were brought in, starting with "MAN-1-A". This block of numbers were used in the UK to represent the date of issue in the suffix letter and had started in 1963 with "AAA 1 A". With an initial 10 year separation these were initially easy to differentiate but during the late 1970's when the letters cross over this caused some confusion when using a Manx registered vehicle in the UK, displaying plates that looked too new for the particular model of vehicle.
"MAN-999-Y" was the last number of the series in January 1979, at which point the system was reversed so that the letter became the prefix, starting with "A-1-MAN". Again on the isle of Man these prefixes did not represent a date. In the UK the system swapped to a letter prefix in August 1983 with the "A 1 AAA" series. Unlike the UK, the Manx numbering system allowed an "O" as a prefix letter (not a suffix as this would be too similar in appearance to the following July 1985 series ending in zero).
By May 1983 the prefix letter series had expired with "Y-999-MAN", and realising that 7 alpha-numeric character plates from the "MAN" series (without a letter prefix or suffix) were available, 4 digit "MAN" registrations were issued starting with "MAN-1000". That series ended with "MAN-9999" in July 1985 and the system reversed using sequential 4 digits with "MAN" as a prefix, starting with "1000-MAN".
"9999-MAN" was issued in August 1987, and in a return to the UK's 1963 "AAA 1 A" series, The isle of Man government started issuing plates with three sequential digits, a sequential trailing letter and a sequential letter prefix to MN. For example, the series started with "BMN-1-A", following "BMN-999-A" was "BMN-1-B", following "BMN-999-Y" was "CMN-1-A". This series is still in use today, with many registrations having been returned to the Isle of Man Government for re-use as cherished registrations, bought from branches of Isle of Man Post.
Famous Plates
The Isle of Man is a fairly small place, and vehicle registrations come to be known by friends and family in the same way that well known resident's plates come to be affectionately memorised.
The late comedian Norman Wisdom, whose career spanned back to the early 1950's was an island resident, the owner of several plates on the island, including
"NMN-16". Source:The Independent, June 21st 2001.
 The Isle of Man has become a popular very popular destination amongst motorsport fans, a race circuit forming part of the 600 miles of public roads, and having no speed limit once outside the towns and villages. It is no surprise then than a man like Nigel Mansell would choose to live here. His plate, "N-1-MAN", also represents his name when shown without hyphens; the first two and first three letters of his first and family names (NIMAN).
 In the same vein is one of the most well known motoring journalists, Jeremy Clarkson. Owning a lighthouse in the south of the Isle of Man, choosing to register his new Ford GT on the island seemed like an obvious decision. Although soon regretting that particular choice of car, it went on to appear on an edition of the BBC motoring show, TopGear. His choice of registration also remains questionable, "MAN-550-X", or, "Man's Socks"! Source:Top Gear,Series 7 Episode 2, BBC Two, November 27th 2005.
Trevor Baines who was famously convicted in 2009 on the Isle of Man for money laundering offences owned the ironic plate "MAN-10-U", read MAN I.O.U.
An anonymous bidder on the 2nd of February 2009, placed a winning bid of £100,000 on "MN-1", the first ever registration to be issued on the Isle of Man. To many this signalled that the Manx number plate market had reached parity with that of the UK, and spawned a renewed interest in Manx number plates.Source:bbc.co.uk February 2nd 2009
Later that year on the 26th of November, 2009, "MN-2" was bought for £65,000, with "MN-1" seen in the car park outside the Mount Murray Hotel. "MN-1" left immediately after the auction for the "MN-2" lot was completed, yet it is unclear whether the owner of "MN-1" bought "MN-2".
One plate you might see if attending one of the Island's ceremonial or political events such as Tynwald day, is "MAN-1". This plate is used on the Lieutenant Governor's car, and although "MAN-2" is also used by the Lieutenant Governor, it is seen less often.
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