For a really interesting background to the painting, see [1].
The painting originally had no name. A 1715 copy gave it the name "Officers and other civic guardsmen of District II of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch". A 1797 engraving added the nickname "Night Watch".
So today, the painting's preferred full name is [2] in Dutch:
* "Officieren en andere schutters van wijk II in Amsterdam onder leiding van kapitein Frans Banninck Cocq en luitenant Willem van Ruytenburch, bekend als de ‘Nachtwacht’"
and in English:
* "Officers and other civic guardsmen of District II of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch, known as the ‘Night Watch’"
The painting originally had no name. A 1715 copy gave it the name "Officers and other civic guardsmen of District II of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch". A 1797 engraving added the nickname "Night Watch".
So today, the painting's preferred full name is [2] in Dutch:
* "Officieren en andere schutters van wijk II in Amsterdam onder leiding van kapitein Frans Banninck Cocq en luitenant Willem van Ruytenburch, bekend als de ‘Nachtwacht’"
and in English:
* "Officers and other civic guardsmen of District II of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch, known as the ‘Night Watch’"
[1] https://jhna.org/articles/amsterdam-civic-guard-portraits-wi...
[2] http://www.getty.edu/cona/CONAFullSubject.aspx?subid=7000018...