Though most people think of Tim Burton as a Hollywood writer and director, his titular holiday flick was actually inspired by the 1981 parody poem he wrote, putting a satirical spin on ?The Night Before Christmas.? The title of Burton's poem and his subsequent movie came from a pun within his popular Christmas poem.

The title The Nightmare Before Christmas is a clever, dark-humored pun on the classic 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," more commonly known by its opening line: "’Twas the Night Before Christmas." Tim Burton originally wrote a poem in 1982 while working as an animator at Disney, which served as the foundation for the 1993 film. The "Nightmare" in the title refers to the protagonist, Jack Skellington (the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town), and his unintentional subversion of the Christmas holiday. When Jack attempts to take over Christmas, his well-meaning but macabre gifts (like shrunken heads and carnivorous wreaths) create a literal "nightmare" for the children of the world. The title perfectly encapsulates the film’s central theme: the collision of two starkly different holidays—Halloween and Christmas—and the chaotic, "nightmarish" results of trying to force one's own identity onto a completely different cultural tradition.