CLR wrote

Use a Helper column with the Name and a suffix of a sequential number,
like Brown,Charlie1 for row one of Charlie Browns data, then
Brown,Charlie2 for his second row, etc etc........then
Armstrong,Jack1....Armstrong,Jack2 for the next group etc
etc...........they don't have to be sorted by name, then sort on this
column and they sort as a group by name, and stay in the proper order
as well..........

Followup on initial setup: If I used formulas in helper column for the
first student like =A2&1, =A2&2, =A2&3, etc., where A2 held the first
student's name, selected those and drag-filled down, it took most of the
pain out.

--
David