This is page 3 of a 4-page demo about using Joomla's "category blog" to display stuff in a grid format.

Out of the Box- Everything Hidden - Grid of Names - Grid of Images

Suppose you just want a grid of names, sorted by surname...

Start the articles titles with the surname, add the name just above "read more" at the beginning of the article, and set the menu-item to sort by article title. Although this way the names are not clickable. If you want them to be clickable, you could add the link to the name manually. Or show the titles instead. Or... use images.

Next...