See this post. Using the nomenclature I used in that post:

sub property {  return $_[ 0 ]->{ name } }
@sorted =
  map  { $_->[ 0 ] }
  sort { $a->[ 1 ] cmp $b->[ 1 ] }
  map  { [ $_, property( $_ ) ] }
  @people;
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See the post linked above for the details. If you really insist on the less efficient approach you outlined, then

sub by_name { $a->{ name } cmp $b->{ name } }
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