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MR LUCK, B1MSEUR, BANNY V and K1DULT - they could very well pass for Twitter handles or the first half of an old Hotmail account but actually they are all registered car vanity plates in Hong Kong.

The popularity of vanity plates hardly needs to be explained. Licence plates with customised monikers can be seen zipping along city streets ranging from the cute to the outrageous or the straight-out bizarre. They're also a favourite of the rich and famous.

David Tang's vehicles supposedly begin with his initials DT, while 5 and 6 are supposedly Joseph Lau Leun-hung and Run Run Shaw respectively.

Vanity plates, or personalised vehicle registration marks as they're officially known, are an initiative that was first offered by the government in 2006.

Licence plates are sold at auction multiple times a year with proceeds going to charity. The items raise top dollars. At this year's Lunar New Year auction, the highest price was HK$3.16 million for the licence plate 85. Canto-pop star Aaron Kwok Fu-shing reportedly paid HK$250,000 for one of his many cars to carry a plate spelling AAR0N.

There are, of course, a few restrictions to what can be printed on a licence plate. The plate cannot be more than eight letters or include the letters I, O or Q (car owners typically use the numerals 1 and 0 to stand in). It also must not spell anything offensive. Other than that, the sky's the limit including unflattering marks like LOCUST or even OGRE, which are actual Hong Kong plates.