open my $fh1, "<:encoding(utf-8)","$tmpfile" or die "$tmpfile: $!";
while (<$fh1>) {
    chomp;
    push @names, split (/\n/);
}
$fh1->close;

##</code><code>##

use strict;
use warnings;
my $tmpfile = 'f.tmp'; # test file used only for testing this script standalone
my @names;
open my $fh1, "<:encoding(utf-8)", $tmpfile or die "$tmpfile: $!";
while (<$fh1>) {
    chomp;
    push @names, $_;
}
close $fh1;