As Catherine Zeta-Jones said in an interview as noted in IMDB:
After The Mask of Zorro (1998), people spoke Spanish to me for ages. I\’m Welsh but that movie instantly gave me a new ethnicity.
Let\’s say it\’s true in this uchronia that Zeta-Jones accepted this new identity. What would it look like?
Catherine Zeta-Jones
As noted in the interview, Zeta-Jones is not a Spanish name, rather it is a Welsh name, for she is originally from Wales. Her last name Zeta is her grandmother\’s name, which she used in her professional career as a way to stand out.
The film that made her a household name was of course The Mask Of Zorro (1998) alongside Antonio Banderas.
Catarina Zitajonez
Ideally, the surname sounds as [zee-tuh-khoh-nehz]. While the phonology would be different in Spanish, the spelling of \”Jones\” would probably be the same. It turns out that Jones is a Welsh surname meaning \”son of John,\” while Spanish surnames use -ez as a patronymic case as well. Of course, it seems entirely coincidental, however I don\’t think native Spanish speakers would care that much.
It turns out Hispanicization of names is not uncommon among non-Spanish immigrants in Latin America. In the case of Hugo Oconór, his name was made Spanish from his original Irish surname \”O\’Conner.\” He would become a military governor of Northern Mexico when it was still a Spanish colony in the late 18th century.
Sources
- Catherine Zeta-Jones. IMDB.
- Ó Fógartaigh, Séamus. \”Ireland and Mexico.\” Irish Migration Studies in Latin America.
- (Image Attribution): Popsracer. \”Mumbles, Wales.\” Wikipedia. 24 August 2003. CC BY-SA 3.0. Changes include placing original image in overlaying image.