Learn How to Read your Driver's License Number

driver3Many people never think about the long string of numbers that is on a Wisconsin drivers license. However, you’ll need to know the number if you are buying a new car, looking into a new insurance policy, at the DMV, or any other form you may have to fill out that asks for the number. There is a lot of information in your driver’s license number and we want to explain it to you today.

If you have a Wisconsin drivers license, the format will be as follows.

SSSS-FFFY-YDDD-NN

In the first section, SSSS. These four digits represent a soundex code of your last name. The first letter in your drivers license number will represent the first letter of your last name. The three numbers following that letter are used as a hashing system to roughly sound like your last name.

In the second section, FFF. These numbers will represent your first and middle name. Your first and middle name fall into a code which can be found by looking on the chart below.

Name Chart
Name Chart

If you do not see your name on the chart above. Find the first letter of your first name on the chart below. Then look at the middle name chart and find the first letter of your middle initial. Add both of the code numbers together and this will total the middle second section number on your drivers license.

middle2
First Letter of Middle Name
middle1
First Letter of First Name

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third section, Y-Y represents the year you were born. For example, if you were born in 1983, your number in the Y-Y section will be 83.

The fourth section, DDD. This portion represents the month and day you were born. It also represents your gender.

To figure out this number you take:

(Birth Month – 1) x40 + Birth Day + (male:0, female: 500)

The fifth section, NN. This section is used in case of an overflow. There may be people with the same code for their name and birthday, this section gives people in this case a few extra digits at the end of their drivers license. This way nobody has the same drivers license number.

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