Nacht Wacht was not the original title. It was originally called _"De compagnie van kapitein Frans Banninck Cocq en luitenant Willem van Ruytenburgh maakt zich gereed om uit te marcheren"_, which means "The company of captain Frans Banninck Cocq en lieutenant Willen van Ruytenburgh prepare themselves to go marching".
At the time it was controversial, because normally such militias standing in a nice orderly fashion. Rembrand instead chose to paint this chaos, and apparently the people who commissioned it weren't happy.
At some point two sides were cut off to make it fit in a smaller room, and when it was rediscovered, it was very dark due to the many layers of old varnish. There's where it got the name "Nacht Wacht". Restoration of the painting made it a lot brighter again.
The name stuck, though. The original title is a bit cumbersome.
Amusingly, that didn't stop Dutch prog-metal pioneer Arjen Lucassen from entitling his musical tribute to this painting "The Shooting Company of Captain Franz B. Cocq". You'd think "Night Watch" would be easier to fit into a rhyme....
At the time it was controversial, because normally such militias standing in a nice orderly fashion. Rembrand instead chose to paint this chaos, and apparently the people who commissioned it weren't happy.
At some point two sides were cut off to make it fit in a smaller room, and when it was rediscovered, it was very dark due to the many layers of old varnish. There's where it got the name "Nacht Wacht". Restoration of the painting made it a lot brighter again.
The name stuck, though. The original title is a bit cumbersome.