Perhaps a hash, or an array is would suit your purpose better. Here is an example using an array, also showing a way to put the vals in $i, $j, $k and a way to use a hash.

Update: Added hash demo to code too, and better behaviour when it runs out of values

use strict;
use warnings;

my @names;
while (my $name = <DATA>) {
    chomp $name;  # remove newline
    push @names, $name;
}
print "The third name is $names[2]\n";

my @copy = @names; # take a copy for the hash demo 

my ($i, $j, $k);
while (@names) {
    for (\$i, \$j, \$k) {
        if (@names) {
            $$_ = shift @names;
        }
        else {
            $$_ = 'ran out of records'; # could use undef too
        }
    }
    print "i: $i j:$j k: $k \n";
}

# and with a hash
my %hash;
while (@copy) {
    %hash = (i=>'', j=>'', k=>''); # clear the hash
    for my $key (qw(i j k)) {
        $hash{$key} = shift @copy if @copy;
    }
    print "the hash contains $hash{$_} under $_\n" for ('i'..'k');
}

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Cheers,
R.