When contacts are shown on the iPhone they are sorted by last name, then first name but they are displayed as first name, then last name. This is the default anyways. I find this really hard to use cause it's hard to scan the sorted values when the sort value is shown second.

The iPhone lets you set how your contacts are sorted and shown so that you can make the sort and display the same. To change this go to Settings and tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars. Scroll down to the Contacts section and you can then set Sort Order and Display Order to match if you want. The options for both are Last, First and First, Last.