diff --git a/_components/accessible-emoji.webc b/_components/accessible-emoji.webc
index d1a7c8d..11800a3 100644
--- a/_components/accessible-emoji.webc
+++ b/_components/accessible-emoji.webc
@@ -1,8 +1,30 @@
 <script webc:root="override" webc:type="js" webc:raw>
-let label = emojiShortName(emoji);
-// via
-// https://kittygiraudel.com/2021/01/02/accessible-emojis-with-11ty/
-// https://tink.uk/accessible-emoji/
-// https://adrianroselli.com/2016/12/accessible-emoji-tweaked.html
+/**
+ * Make emoji more accessible.
+ * 
+ * @param {string} alt - Optionally override the Unicode short name passed 
+ * to aria-label
+ * @param {string} emoji - emoji to make more accessible
+ *
+ * Current bug in emoji-short-name/emoji-essential puts extraneous
+ * `⊛ ` into names, so filtering here.
+ * https://github.com/WebReflection/emoji-essential/issues/1
+ * 
+ * Newer emoji may not be in emoji-essential, so we need to be extra defensive
+ * 
+ * Learn more: 
+ * - https://kittygiraudel.com/2021/01/02/accessible-emojis-with-11ty/ 
+ * - https://tink.uk/accessible-emoji/ 
+ * - https://adrianroselli.com/2016/12/accessible-emoji-tweaked.html
+ */
+let label = "";
+if (alt && typeof alt === 'string') {
+    label = alt;
+} else if (typeof emoji === 'string' && typeof alt === 'undefined') {
+    shortName = emojiShortName(emoji);
+    if (typeof shortName !== "undefined") {
+        label = shortName.replace("⊛ ", "");
+    }
+}
 `<span role="img" aria-label="${label}">${emoji}</span>`
 </script>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/index.webc b/index.webc
index 0693a6a..e689306 100644
--- a/index.webc
+++ b/index.webc
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 let layout = "layouts/base.webc";
 // Hi
 ---
-<h1>Welcome to Tugboat <accessible-emoji emoji="🛟"></accessible-emoji></h1>
+<!--- Optionally override the Unicode emoji name with alt --->
+<h1>Welcome to Tugboat <accessible-emoji emoji="🛟" alt="life preserver"></accessible-emoji></h1>
 
 <p @text="pkg.description"></p>