RI plates are usually 2 letters 3 numbers.
XX 123. Back in the day, the plates would have the initials of the owner. My Chevelle plates are my Aunts initials followed by 3 numbers. They do not purposefully issue plates that way anymore. If they did mine would be WG 123. Maybe they did do them in sequence. I dont know how her grandfather got the 4 digit plates but I do know that his wife's car had the next number in sequence. That plate is long gone. Way back when they issued drivers license numbers in sequence too. My Great aunt's license number was 3 or 4 digits. She's almost 94 now.