How to solve multiple entries for same artist?

I would love to solve this vexing, nagging problem for once and for all...for some reason, iTunes does not allow us to sort Artists by last name, one of the most glaring and annoying flaws in the program. I always just go in and edit the names so they are last name first, and usually, things work OK. However, for some bizarre reason, sometimes, when the album is loaded onto my iPod Classic, there are two entries for the artist. This happens for CDs as well as albums purchased from iTunes. The ONLY thing that I edit is the Artist name. Is there any way to get iTunes to NOT do this?? The last time this happened, it put 8 songs from a just-purchased-from-iTunes album in one folder for the artist, and one song in another identically named folder on my iPod!