Lorne Grabher wants his personalized licence plate back.

The Nova Scotia man says he is ready to launch legal action against the provincial authorities to get the plate - proudly featuring his German surname, Grabher - back on his car.

The problem is that, in the minds of some officials of the Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles, his last name is now associated with infamously crude remarks about grabbing female genitalia made by US President Donald Trump.

Grabher wrote in a Facebook post that he was notified by the director of road safety in the provincial Registrar of Motor Vehicles in December that his licence plate is being cancelled because it can be misinterpreted "as a socially unacceptable slogan."

"The name on the plate was my last name 'Grabher' and [the license plate] has been in the family for over 25 years," he wrote.

"This plate changed hands within the family three times with no issue, but because one complaint was lodged, Ms Director of Road Safety used her authority to cancel my plate."

The director, Janice Harland, did not respond to a request for comment.

A government spokesperson told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News that Nova Scotia''s Department of Transportation felt compelled to act after receiving a complaint outlining how some people interpret the name as misogynistic and promoting violence against women.

"I feel this is a total abuse of power by Ms Director of Road Safety!" Grabher wrote in a desperate Facebook post that garnered international media attention.

"Where does it state that my last name is considered a 'slogan' in the Motor Vehicle Act?"

Grabher, who is retired, has been receiving dozens of supportive messages from across the world, including from a town in Austria, where his last name is very common.

Kurt Fischer, the mayor of Lustenau, a town in western Austria, said he found the whole story absurd.

"I thought that it was political correctness reduced to absurdity," Fischer told CBC News.

The name is common in the region of Austria where Lustenau is.

Grabher told dpa he has retained the services of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms in Alberta.

His son lives in that western Canadian province and has had no problem putting the family name on his license plate.

The centre has sent a letter to the Nova Scotia government calling the decision to revoke Grabher's licence unconstitutional and "an affront to the dignity of Canadians, particularly those Canadians who are not of Anglo-Saxon descent".

"In a multicultural society, government must respect individuals’ heritage and freedom, and encourage community understanding," wrote lawyer and Justice Centre president John Carpay.

"Pandering to an unreasonable complaint and cancelling our client’s plate perpetuates misunderstanding, subverts the dignity and heritage of our client and many other Canadians, and violates the freedom of expression protected by the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]," Carpay added.

The letter gives provincial authorities until today to reinstate Grabher's licence plate listing his surname.

"If, by April 6, 2017, you have not provided us with written confirmation evidencing your commitment to reinstating the license plate, our client will have no choice but to take further steps to assert his legal rights," read the letter.

- dpa