The solution is to use the Browser in GraphicConverter. Put all the images into a folder. Select the folder in GraphicConverter using Command-Option-O (File -> Browse Folder...), and all the images will appear in alphabetical order. Using the browser, you can display them by name, date, label, size, or kind, in obverse or reverse order.
To open in GraphicConverter, just select all or a group and double-click. To open in Photoshop, Preview, or other graphics program, make your selection and drag it to the graphics application's icon in your Dock or in DragThing. They will all open in the order displayed in the GraphicConverter Browser.
[robg adds: You can open images in name order only by using a column-view window in the Finder. Also, Photoshop has its own Browse feature (Adobe Bridge), which will also let you sort and then open in the sorted order. I'm not sure if this is present in the newest versions of Photoshop Elements or not.]

