CCN name patterns

A method is implemented by a content centric network (CCN) naming layer executed by a network device. The naming layer is configured to enable processing of regular expressions as part of a hierarchical CCN name, where regular expressions are sequences of characters that form a search pattern. The method processes regular expressions utilized in a one to many scenario between a plurality of CCN clients and at least one CCN serving node. The method includes receiving a CCN interest from a CCN forwarding layer, accessing a forwarding information base (FIB) to find FIB entries matching a path of the CCN name and the regular expression, accessing a content store to find content objects matching the FIB entries, and creating a new CCN interest for each of the FIB entries not found in the content store.