Not unless get_page_content("names") returns a key-value paired list.

Well, duh, but that's implied by his question.

Plus, that's just a silly way of doing it.

I don't think it's silly, just inefficient. How about this:

sub pushhash (\%@) {
  my $hash = shift;
  my $key;
  $$hash{$key} = shift while defined($key = shift);
}

my %a;

$a{cow} = "COW1";
$a{dog} = "DOG1";

pushhash %a, cow => "COW2", bull => "Terrier";

for (sort keys %a) {
  print "$_ => $a{$_}\n";
}
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