Entirely down to the persons character really Col me I would never have one don't see the point but other people love that kind of thing so in a nutshell it will be a brilliant present or an embarrassing one.
Cool as far as I'm concerned provided it's not tacky. Depending on what it is, it can work out very expensive though, especially if the plate spells out a name like S4RAH etc
The V111A followed by 2 letters are about £300 quid if I recall. My Canadian cousin was on the lookout for IB6 UB9. Not spoken to him to see if he was succesful or not.
As ever, the wonderful band Half Man Half Biscuit have a lyric to cover this subject:
"Well we've both seen your personalised reg plate,
And it's not the worst crime I'd agree,
But we both know full well,
It really should spell,
T-W-A-T-O-N-E"