Nell is a name that means shining light, or bright one.
>Nell in The Haunting
A group of people with sleep disorders are brought to a mansion under the guise of a study. In truth, they’re being used in an experiment on fear. Nell becomes convinced the house is haunted. She discovers Crain, the home's original owner, used and murdered orphaned children, burning their bodies in the fireplace to create his “eternal family.” Nell learns she’s a descendant of Crain’s second wife, Carolyn (meaning “free man”), and believes it’s her purpose to help the children’s spirits move on to the afterlife.
>Nell in The Last Exorcism
An exorcist is contacted by a farmer named Louis about a possession affecting his daughter. A documentary crew films what they think is a fake exorcism, but Nell, Louis' naive young daughter, is truly possessed. One of the documentary crew, Iris, gives Nell a pair of red boots. It's revealed that the entire town are involved in a cult and are using Nell in a ritual.
Iris is played by Iris Bahr. She studied neuropsychology and religious studies. She was in the IDF. She has also been in The Conners, 9-1-1, and Losing Alice.
Louis is played by Louis Herthum, who was also in Westworld
>Nell in Nell (1994)
Jodie Foster plays Nell, a woman raised in the woods who speaks her own language and lives in complete isolation. This isolation creates a kind of Edenic innocence. After her mother dies, an Irish doctor (Liam Neeson) finds a note in her bible asking someone to care for her. He learns how to communicate with her, Nell calls him her guardian angel. He wears a cross throughout the film and lives across from a fancy building with a checker pattern.
Nell lost her twin sister as a child.