Jones turned out to be the most contentious character in Alien. If my memory of all the behind-the-scenes and making-of articles, magazines, and books I have read, coupled with all the documentaries and bonus features that I have watched, is correct, it was Walter Hill that added Jones to the screenplay.
This was done so that Hill could snag a screenwriting credit for Alien. It was a gambit that failed, though, as Hill did not receive credit for the minor changes he made to Dan O'Bannon's script. Which was adding a cat and changing the names of the characters.
Changing characters names seems to have been a boilerplate maneuver when tasked with revising, polishing, or doctoring a script. A smoke and mirrors way of making minor or, in some cases, non-existent alterations appear major.
So it goes, it seems.
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