Numbers as names

Good morning

Is there a simple way to use numbers as names. I am organising a roster and have numbers such as 1,2,3 & 4 in one group and 2,3,6, & 7 in another, with many different variants. There is a total of 16 people in the roster group. 

To do the roster it is easier to use numbers, but is there a way that that number will show  as a name in the roster spreadsheet

ie  1 Fred Blogs 2 Jack James, 3 Pete Smith, 4 Bill Williams

doing the roster as 1,2,3,4  and showing the names instead of the numbers

Thanks