Henry wrote

You could try names in the format:
39LASTNAME,FIRSTNAME.
A sort ascending would keep your numbers sequential.

Well, since my helper column strips off ', FIRSTNAME', subsequent resort
produced:

10LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
11LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
12LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
13LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
14LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
15LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
16LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
17LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
18LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
19LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
1LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
20LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
21LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
22LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
23LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
24LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
25LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
26LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
27LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
28LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
29LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
2LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
30LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
31LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
32LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
33LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
34LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
35LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
36LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
3LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
4LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
5LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
6LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
7LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
8LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME
9LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME

Rats!!

--
David