diff --git a/make/jdk/src/classes/build/tools/cldrconverter/CLDRConverter.java b/make/jdk/src/classes/build/tools/cldrconverter/CLDRConverter.java
index a65450cded1..18ce0c334fb 100644
--- a/make/jdk/src/classes/build/tools/cldrconverter/CLDRConverter.java
+++ b/make/jdk/src/classes/build/tools/cldrconverter/CLDRConverter.java
@@ -815,28 +815,6 @@ public class CLDRConverter {
                 data = map.get(TIMEZONE_ID_PREFIX + tzLink);
             }
 
-            // Process metazones first, if any
-            String meta = handlerMetaZones.get(tzKey);
-            String[] metaNames = null;
-            if (meta == null && tzLink != null) {
-                // Check for tzLink
-                meta = handlerMetaZones.get(tzLink);
-            }
-            if (meta != null) {
-                var metaKey = METAZONE_ID_PREFIX + meta;
-                if (map.get(metaKey) instanceof String[] mn) {
-                    metaNames = mn;
-                }
-                if (metaNames != null && isDefaultZone(meta, tzKey)) {
-                    // Record the metazone names only from the default
-                    // (001) zone, with short names filled from TZDB
-                    metaNames = Arrays.copyOf(metaNames, metaNames.length);
-                    fillTZDBShortNames(tzKey, metaNames);
-                    names.put(metaKey, metaNames);
-                }
-            }
-
-            // Put regular time zones
             if (data instanceof String[] tznames) {
                 // Hack for UTC. UTC is an alias to Etc/UTC in CLDR
                 if (tzid.equals("Etc/UTC") && !map.containsKey(TIMEZONE_ID_PREFIX + "UTC")) {
@@ -850,10 +828,26 @@ public class CLDRConverter {
                     names.put(tzid, tznames);
                 }
             } else {
-                if (metaNames != null) {
-                    names.put(tzid, meta);
-                    if (tzLink != null && availableIds.contains(tzLink)) {
-                        names.put(tzLink, meta);
+                String meta = handlerMetaZones.get(tzKey);
+                if (meta == null && tzLink != null) {
+                    // Check for tzLink
+                    meta = handlerMetaZones.get(tzLink);
+                }
+                if (meta != null) {
+                    String metaKey = METAZONE_ID_PREFIX + meta;
+                    data = map.get(metaKey);
+                    if (data instanceof String[] tznames) {
+                        if (isDefaultZone(meta, tzKey)) {
+                            // Record the metazone names only from the default
+                            // (001) zone, with short names filled from TZDB
+                            tznames = Arrays.copyOf(tznames, tznames.length);
+                            fillTZDBShortNames(tzKey, tznames);
+                            names.put(metaKey, tznames);
+                        }
+                        names.put(tzid, meta);
+                        if (tzLink != null && availableIds.contains(tzLink)) {
+                            names.put(tzLink, meta);
+                        }
                     }
                 } else if (id.equals("root")) {
                     // supply TZDB short names if available