diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl b/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
index e881a65ca6b1c..e15807f645119 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/src/LineEdit.jl
@@ -181,7 +181,18 @@ struct EmptyHistoryProvider <: HistoryProvider end
 
 reset_state(::EmptyHistoryProvider) = nothing
 
-complete_line(c::EmptyCompletionProvider, s; hint::Bool=false) = String[], "", true
+# Before, completions were always given as strings. But at least for backslash
+# completions, it's nice to see what glyphs are available in the completion preview.
+# To separate between what's shown in the preview list of possible matches, and what's
+# actually completed, we introduce this struct.
+struct NamedCompletion
+    completion::String # what is actually completed, for example "\trianglecdot"
+    name::String # what is displayed in lists of possible completions, for example "◬ \trianglecdot"
+end
+
+NamedCompletion(completion::String) = NamedCompletion(completion, completion)
+
+complete_line(c::EmptyCompletionProvider, s; hint::Bool=false) = NamedCompletion[], "", true
 
 # complete_line can be specialized for only two arguments, when the active module
 # doesn't matter (e.g. Pkg does this)
@@ -308,6 +319,7 @@ end
 
 set_action!(s, command::Symbol) = nothing
 
+common_prefix(completions::Vector{NamedCompletion}) = common_prefix(map(x -> x.completion, completions))
 function common_prefix(completions::Vector{String})
     ret = ""
     c1 = completions[1]
@@ -330,6 +342,8 @@ end
 # does not restrict column length when multiple columns are used.
 const MULTICOLUMN_THRESHOLD = 5
 
+show_completions(s::PromptState, completions::Vector{NamedCompletion}) = show_completions(s, map(x -> x.name, completions))
+
 # Show available completions
 function show_completions(s::PromptState, completions::Vector{String})
     # skip any lines of input after the cursor
@@ -374,6 +388,18 @@ function complete_line(s::MIState)
     end
 end
 
+# due to close coupling of the Pkg ReplExt `complete_line` can still return a vector of strings,
+# so we convert those in this helper
+function complete_line_named(args...; kwargs...)::Tuple{Vector{NamedCompletion},String,Bool}
+    result = complete_line(args...; kwargs...)::Union{Tuple{Vector{NamedCompletion},String,Bool},Tuple{Vector{String},String,Bool}}
+    if result isa Tuple{Vector{NamedCompletion},String,Bool}
+        return result
+    else
+        completions, partial, should_complete = result
+        return map(NamedCompletion, completions), partial, should_complete
+    end
+end
+
 function check_for_hint(s::MIState)
     st = state(s)
     if !options(st).hint_tab_completes || !eof(buffer(st))
@@ -383,12 +409,14 @@ function check_for_hint(s::MIState)
         return clear_hint(st)
     end
 
-    completions, partial, should_complete = try
-        complete_line(st.p.complete, st, s.active_module; hint = true)::Tuple{Vector{String},String,Bool}
+    named_completions, partial, should_complete = try
+        complete_line_named(st.p.complete, st, s.active_module; hint = true)
     catch
         @debug "error completing line for hint" exception=current_exceptions()
         return clear_hint(st)
     end
+    completions = map(x -> x.completion, named_completions)
+
     isempty(completions) && return clear_hint(st)
     # Don't complete for single chars, given e.g. `x` completes to `xor`
     if length(partial) > 1 && should_complete
@@ -425,7 +453,7 @@ function clear_hint(s::ModeState)
 end
 
 function complete_line(s::PromptState, repeats::Int, mod::Module; hint::Bool=false)
-    completions, partial, should_complete = complete_line(s.p.complete, s, mod; hint)::Tuple{Vector{String},String,Bool}
+    completions, partial, should_complete = complete_line_named(s.p.complete, s, mod; hint)
     isempty(completions) && return false
     if !should_complete
         # should_complete is false for cases where we only want to show
@@ -435,7 +463,7 @@ function complete_line(s::PromptState, repeats::Int, mod::Module; hint::Bool=fal
         # Replace word by completion
         prev_pos = position(s)
         push_undo(s)
-        edit_splice!(s, (prev_pos - sizeof(partial)) => prev_pos, completions[1])
+        edit_splice!(s, (prev_pos - sizeof(partial)) => prev_pos, completions[1].completion)
     else
         p = common_prefix(completions)
         if !isempty(p) && p != partial
diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/src/REPL.jl b/stdlib/REPL/src/REPL.jl
index 50f610ff3b3e8..6c3f4bd4ba73a 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/src/REPL.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/src/REPL.jl
@@ -843,7 +843,7 @@ function complete_line(c::REPLCompletionProvider, s::PromptState, mod::Module; h
     full = LineEdit.input_string(s)
     ret, range, should_complete = completions(full, lastindex(partial), mod, c.modifiers.shift, hint)
     c.modifiers = LineEdit.Modifiers()
-    return unique!(String[completion_text(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
+    return unique!(LineEdit.NamedCompletion[named_completion(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
 end
 
 function complete_line(c::ShellCompletionProvider, s::PromptState; hint::Bool=false)
@@ -851,14 +851,14 @@ function complete_line(c::ShellCompletionProvider, s::PromptState; hint::Bool=fa
     partial = beforecursor(s.input_buffer)
     full = LineEdit.input_string(s)
     ret, range, should_complete = shell_completions(full, lastindex(partial), hint)
-    return unique!(String[completion_text(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
+    return unique!(LineEdit.NamedCompletion[named_completion(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
 end
 
 function complete_line(c::LatexCompletions, s; hint::Bool=false)
     partial = beforecursor(LineEdit.buffer(s))
     full = LineEdit.input_string(s)::String
     ret, range, should_complete = bslash_completions(full, lastindex(partial), hint)[2]
-    return unique!(String[completion_text(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
+    return unique!(LineEdit.NamedCompletion[named_completion(x) for x in ret]), partial[range], should_complete
 end
 
 with_repl_linfo(f, repl) = f(outstream(repl))
diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/src/REPLCompletions.jl b/stdlib/REPL/src/REPLCompletions.jl
index 1f2c0cabbdb38..0bffb1a1015cd 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/src/REPLCompletions.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/src/REPLCompletions.jl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 module REPLCompletions
 
-export completions, shell_completions, bslash_completions, completion_text
+export completions, shell_completions, bslash_completions, completion_text, named_completion
 
 using Core: Const
 # We want to insulate the REPLCompletion module from any changes the user may
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ using Base.Meta
 using Base: propertynames, something, IdSet
 using Base.Filesystem: _readdirx
 
+using ..REPL.LineEdit: NamedCompletion
+
 abstract type Completion end
 
 struct TextCompletion <: Completion
@@ -57,8 +59,10 @@ struct MethodCompletion <: Completion
 end
 
 struct BslashCompletion <: Completion
-    bslash::String
+    completion::String # what is actually completed, for example "\trianglecdot"
+    name::String # what is displayed, for example "◬ \trianglecdot"
 end
+BslashCompletion(completion::String) = BslashCompletion(completion, completion)
 
 struct ShellCompletion <: Completion
     text::String
@@ -114,13 +118,21 @@ _completion_text(c::PackageCompletion) = c.package
 _completion_text(c::PropertyCompletion) = sprint(Base.show_sym, c.property)
 _completion_text(c::FieldCompletion) = sprint(Base.show_sym, c.field)
 _completion_text(c::MethodCompletion) = repr(c.method)
-_completion_text(c::BslashCompletion) = c.bslash
 _completion_text(c::ShellCompletion) = c.text
 _completion_text(c::DictCompletion) = c.key
 _completion_text(c::KeywordArgumentCompletion) = c.kwarg*'='
 
 completion_text(c) = _completion_text(c)::String
 
+named_completion(c::BslashCompletion) = NamedCompletion(c.completion, c.name)
+
+function named_completion(c)
+    text = completion_text(c)::String
+    return NamedCompletion(text, text)
+end
+
+named_completion_completion(c) = named_completion(c).completion::String
+
 const Completions = Tuple{Vector{Completion}, UnitRange{Int}, Bool}
 
 function completes_global(x, name)
@@ -984,12 +996,10 @@ function bslash_completions(string::String, pos::Int, hint::Bool=false)
         end
         # return possible matches; these cannot be mixed with regular
         # Julian completions as only latex / emoji symbols contain the leading \
-        if startswith(s, "\\:") # emoji
-            namelist = Iterators.filter(k -> startswith(k, s), keys(emoji_symbols))
-        else # latex
-            namelist = Iterators.filter(k -> startswith(k, s), keys(latex_symbols))
-        end
-        return (true, (Completion[BslashCompletion(name) for name in sort!(collect(namelist))], slashpos:pos, true))
+        symbol_dict = startswith(s, "\\:") ? emoji_symbols : latex_symbols
+        namelist = Iterators.filter(k -> startswith(k, s), keys(symbol_dict))
+        completions = Completion[BslashCompletion(name, "$(symbol_dict[name]) $name") for name in sort!(collect(namelist))]
+        return (true, (completions, slashpos:pos, true))
     end
     return (false, (Completion[], 0:-1, false))
 end
@@ -1099,7 +1109,7 @@ function complete_keyword_argument(partial::String, last_idx::Int, context_modul
         complete_keyval!(suggestions, last_word)
     end
 
-    return sort!(suggestions, by=completion_text), wordrange
+    return sort!(suggestions, by=named_completion_completion), wordrange
 end
 
 function get_loading_candidates(pkgstarts::String, project_file::String)
@@ -1298,7 +1308,7 @@ function completions(string::String, pos::Int, context_module::Module=Main, shif
         complete_identifiers!(suggestions, context_module, string, name,
                               pos, separatorpos, startpos;
                               shift)
-        return sort!(unique!(completion_text, suggestions), by=completion_text), (separatorpos+1):pos, true
+        return sort!(unique!(named_completion, suggestions), by=named_completion_completion), (separatorpos+1):pos, true
     elseif inc_tag === :cmd
         # TODO: should this call shell_completions instead of partially reimplementing it?
         let m = match(r"[\t\n\r\"`><=*?|]| (?!\\)", reverse(partial)) # fuzzy shell_parse in reverse
@@ -1496,7 +1506,7 @@ function completions(string::String, pos::Int, context_module::Module=Main, shif
     complete_identifiers!(suggestions, context_module, string, name,
                           pos, separatorpos, startpos;
                           comp_keywords, complete_modules_only, shift)
-    return sort!(unique!(completion_text, suggestions), by=completion_text), namepos:pos, true
+    return sort!(unique!(named_completion, suggestions), by=named_completion_completion), namepos:pos, true
 end
 
 function shell_completions(string, pos, hint::Bool=false)
diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/test/replcompletions.jl b/stdlib/REPL/test/replcompletions.jl
index b259567884486..2c8d48cc232cf 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/test/replcompletions.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/test/replcompletions.jl
@@ -170,17 +170,23 @@ end
 
 function map_completion_text(completions)
     c, r, res = completions
-    return map(completion_text, c), r, res
+    return map(x -> named_completion(x).completion, c), r, res
+end
+
+function map_named_completion(completions)
+    c, r, res = completions
+    return map(named_completion, c), r, res
 end
 
 test_complete(s) = map_completion_text(@inferred(completions(s, lastindex(s))))
 test_scomplete(s) =  map_completion_text(@inferred(shell_completions(s, lastindex(s))))
-test_bslashcomplete(s) =  map_completion_text(@inferred(bslash_completions(s, lastindex(s)))[2])
 test_complete_context(s, m=@__MODULE__; shift::Bool=true) =
     map_completion_text(@inferred(completions(s,lastindex(s), m, shift)))
 test_complete_foo(s) = test_complete_context(s, Main.CompletionFoo)
 test_complete_noshift(s) = map_completion_text(@inferred(completions(s, lastindex(s), Main, false)))
 
+test_bslashcomplete(s) =  map_named_completion(@inferred(bslash_completions(s, lastindex(s)))[2])
+
 test_methods_list(@nospecialize(f), tt) = map(x -> string(x.method), Base._methods_by_ftype(Base.signature_type(f, tt), 10, Base.get_world_counter()))
 
 
@@ -350,7 +356,8 @@ end
 # test latex symbol completions
 let s = "\\alpha"
     c, r = test_bslashcomplete(s)
-    @test c[1] == "α"
+    @test c[1].completion == "α"
+    @test c[1].name == "α"
     @test r == 1:lastindex(s)
     @test length(c) == 1
 end
@@ -358,7 +365,8 @@ end
 # test latex symbol completions after unicode #9209
 let s = "α\\alpha"
     c, r = test_bslashcomplete(s)
-    @test c[1] == "α"
+    @test c[1].completion == "α"
+    @test c[1].name == "α"
     @test r == 3:sizeof(s)
     @test length(c) == 1
 end
@@ -366,20 +374,25 @@ end
 # test emoji symbol completions
 let s = "\\:koala:"
     c, r = test_bslashcomplete(s)
-    @test c[1] == "🐨"
+    @test c[1].completion == "🐨"
+    @test c[1].name == "🐨"
     @test r == 1:sizeof(s)
     @test length(c) == 1
 end
 
 let s = "\\:ko"
     c, r = test_bslashcomplete(s)
-    @test "\\:koala:" in c
+    ko = only(filter(c) do namedcompletion
+        namedcompletion.completion == "\\:koala:"
+    end)
+    @test ko.name == "🐨 \\:koala:"
 end
 
 # test emoji symbol completions after unicode #9209
 let s = "α\\:koala:"
     c, r = test_bslashcomplete(s)
-    @test c[1] == "🐨"
+    @test c[1].name == "🐨"
+    @test c[1].completion == "🐨"
     @test r == 3:sizeof(s)
     @test length(c) == 1
 end
@@ -1069,8 +1082,8 @@ let s, c, r
     # Issue #8047
     s = "@show \"/dev/nul\""
     c,r = completions(s, 15)
-    c = map(completion_text, c)
-    @test "null\"" in c
+    c = map(named_completion, c)
+    @test "null\"" in [_c.completion for _c in c]
     @test r == 13:15
     @test s[r] == "nul"
 
@@ -1476,7 +1489,7 @@ function test_dict_completion(dict_name)
     @test c == Any["\"abcd\"]"]
     s = "$dict_name[\"abcd]"  # trailing close bracket
     c, r = completions(s, lastindex(s) - 1)
-    c = map(completion_text, c)
+    c = map(x -> named_completion(x).completion, c)
     @test c == Any["\"abcd\""]
     s = "$dict_name[:b"
     c, r = test_complete(s)