<empty /> vs <empty></empty?

Is there any way to control whether empty elements appear as
<empty></empty>, instead of <empty/>?

My problem is that some browsers don't like <div/> or <a name="x"/>, not
recognising that they both begin and *end* there, thinking instead they are
opening tags only.

As a workaround, I believe I can do this:
    <a name="x"><xsl:comment> empty </xsl:comment></a>

e.