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How is it received by the academia if someone thanks to his/her girlfriend/boyfriend in the acknowledgements of the thesis?

I have seen writers including his/her fiancee in the acknowledgements, however I don't know if including an informal relationship in the thesis will be received well.

If it is acceptable, how should I refer to my girlfriend?

WBT
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padawan
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    This strongly depends on your country. I know it to be quite common in my field and not worth a thought in Germany. In other countries you can get stoned to death for having an extra-marital relationship. I bet that there is some country in between where having a girlfriend is acceptable but acknowledging her isn’t. – Wrzlprmft Feb 08 '15 at 22:42
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    Sometimes you can actually have a "Dedication" page other than you acknowledgement as well. – Behacad Feb 08 '15 at 22:55
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    If you want to be a little more formal, write "partner". Most people write both personal and professional acknowledgements in at the end. @Wrzlprmft it's possible for someone to give love and support without yet having a sexual relationship. I'd be quite surprised if an acknowledgement as per jakebeal's answer would be a problem, even in ultra-conservative societies. – Moriarty Feb 08 '15 at 23:02
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    I think you dont see informal relationships not because it is not acceptable but instead because it can be regrettable. In a few years, if your relationship ends, instead of having a persons name, you have an ex forever in your acknowledgment – user-2147482637 Feb 08 '15 at 23:07
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    @Moriarty: I wasn’t necessarily talking about a sexual relationship. Though I am no expert, I am pretty sure that publically stating that there is somebody who is just your girlfriend is at least pretty bad idea in Saudi Arabia, for example. – Wrzlprmft Feb 08 '15 at 23:12
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    @user1938107 I'm very comfortable with the acknowledgement of my ex that is in my thesis. That relationship may have ended, but the help I acknowledged still happened. – jakebeal Feb 08 '15 at 23:15
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    @user1938107: Also, there are societies where the formal relationship status is only mildly correlated to the stability of the relation. – Wrzlprmft Feb 08 '15 at 23:18
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    Indeed, my thesis contains an acknowledgment of someone who was at the time of writing my ex. As for @Wrzlprmft: I don't think we can be responsible for all the world's social mores on this site. The question is "How is it recieved by the academia..." I think for any such question there is going to be a 1% where local customs differ from global academic customs. Unless the OP puts their location into the question and asks for a specifically local answer (which may risk being "too localized"), I think answering "globally" seems only sensible. – Pete L. Clark Feb 08 '15 at 23:28
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    I thanked a fictional dog in my thesis. Nobody cared. Or noticed. – JeffE Feb 09 '15 at 03:27
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    I'm pretty sure that no one has ever read the acknowledgements page of my thesis (including my PhD advisor). There's always the old joke about sticking a $20 bill into your thesis in the library and coming back 10 years later to find it still there... – Andy Putman Feb 09 '15 at 06:31
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    @AndyPutman Perhaps those interested in the thesis are also so honest and altruistic, they leave the money for the next person ... ;-) – Daniel Wessel Feb 09 '15 at 09:34
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    @JeffE I used all my Google skills, just so that at least someone cares (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.76.803&rep=rep1&type=pdf). But I can't find any reference to a dog ( at least if Nancy isn't a dog, which I do not hope because it would be a terrible dog name and the dog could speak, which certainly is spooky). – dirkk Feb 09 '15 at 14:06
  • @dirkk: I think I found it in "Homotopic Fréchet Distance Between Curves". Not his PhD thesis but since even this paper was written five years ago I think we can forgive the memory lapse. :) – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 09 '15 at 15:21
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    Dunno about thesis, but my BSc ticket is still taped inside its cardboard tube, 38 years after I received it. Nobody has ever asked to see it, so I never opened it. I daren't open it now in case, instead of a degree certificate, it contains merely a 'You're joking, surely!' note from my prof. – Martin James Feb 09 '15 at 15:29
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    @dirkk: You didn't read it carefully enough: "Thanks especially to Bob Hearn, Scott Holdaway, Scott Lindsey, Paul Lee, Ernie Pan, Syd Polk, and my dog Bo-bo for their friendship and humor." Now, of course, the question is: "were the other people also fictional?":) – Ajasja Feb 09 '15 at 16:53
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    @Ajasja Yep, that's it. And most of the other people in that list are real. – JeffE Feb 09 '15 at 19:28
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    @LightnessRacesinOrbit Nori and Kira were actual real-life dogs that four of us actually walked in the real-life woods. – JeffE Feb 09 '15 at 19:34
  • @Ajasja Thanks for clearing this up. I swear, I read it three times - I must be Bo-Bo blind. If I am not the only one I guess JeffE could actually be correct that noone ever noticed it. Until no. – dirkk Feb 09 '15 at 20:45
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    My own thesis acknowledgements are sadly very boring. My wife, on the other hand, thanked people for mathematical discussions, for friendship, and for being fun at dinner parties; she thanked her department for paying for her to take ballet classes while she was a PhD student; and she ended by dedicating the thesis to the two rock albums that helped her get through quals studying. Oh, and she thanked me, too. – Mark Meckes Feb 10 '15 at 15:28
  • Please take all extended discussion to [chat]. – eykanal Feb 10 '15 at 15:50
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    @JeffE wait, Bo-bo isn't real?! – Sasho Nikolov Feb 12 '17 at 19:48

2 Answers2

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The acknowledgements section is really yours to do with as you wish. You can thank anybody who has been of help and support to you, no matter how formal or informal your relationship with them is. You can make the relationship explicit or not, however you prefer. Thus, for example, it is equally valid to write:

Thank you to Jane Smith, for all her love and support

or

Thank you to my girlfriend Jane Smith, for all her love and support

jakebeal
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    @keshlam's answer – Lilienthal Feb 09 '15 at 13:33
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    Sadly, for a thesis this might not be the case. Check the rules of your institute! In my home country, the University of Leiden is somewhat infamous for forbidding "excessively long non-academic acknowledgments" and making a fuss about acknowledgments to deities, going as far as forcing people to reprint their thesis, or rip out the acknowledgment altogether. – JanJ Feb 10 '15 at 11:42
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Adding to jakebeal (and keshlam's comment about offensive text), I think the only negative consequence is when you leave specific people out, e.g., you thank one supervisor but not the other. And that includes people who did support you during your thesis but were not part of the formal structures, e.g., your partner, or your parents, etc. Not to argue with comics, but PhDComics put it best: "Acknowledgements" and "To you I dedicate this thesis".

To avoid forgetting someone, I found it useful to add a general thank you paragraph after the personalized acknowledgements for all those I did not mention explicitly (sums up other colleagues, extended family, etc.).

Daniel Wessel
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    This is a very good answer. Actually, I think there is nothing wrong arguing with comics. Thank you. – padawan Feb 10 '15 at 23:05