TheGreatWolfgang said:
-1.

I would say dealias the whole thing altogether. When I tag <3, I expect to see heart symbols; when I tag heart, I expect to see the organ itself.

If the purpose is to make the tag into a word instead of a bunch of symbols, I feel that it's better to do it this way.

• Dealias heart --> <3.
• Alias <3 to heart_symbol.
• Alias heart to heart_(disambiguation) for the other heart_* tags.

I think you have the correct idea