76379 php/mysql help

Some more details in the text file. But here is the short version... I have a mysql database, One field is called "name" and it has data in this format: "Firstname Lastname" What I want is: 1. a submit form with a "drop down-list" with all the names from the database sorted in alphabetically order and the duplicates singeled out. 2. a table with 4 equaly sized columns where all the names in the database are displayed and sorted by the first character