@petebrown The exception I can think of is English translations of Russian works. I really appreciate seeing the varieties of their name listed so that I can see they are all the same person. Everyman's Library does this well for Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
@toddgrotenhuis I hang out with Russians a certain amount, and learning that Alexandra is also Sasha to her friends takes some time and attention. And that's before you get into patronymics. So yes, I'm grateful for casts of characters in Russian novels. A couple of months ago I read Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, and once again, I was grateful for the list of characters, which I referred to more often than I want to admit while reading them. Again, part of the issue is that most of the characters go by at least two different names.