diff --git a/helper/ndn-header-helper.cc b/helper/ndn-header-helper.cc
index 97d282a..ee22b43 100644
--- a/helper/ndn-header-helper.cc
+++ b/helper/ndn-header-helper.cc
@@ -70,5 +70,51 @@
   throw UnknownHeaderException();
 }
 
+Ptr<const Name>
+HeaderHelper::GetName (Ptr<const Packet> p)
+{
+  Ptr<Packet> packet = p->Copy (); // give upper layers a rw copy of the packet
+  try
+    {
+      HeaderHelper::Type type = HeaderHelper::GetNdnHeaderType (p);
+      switch (type)
+        {
+        case HeaderHelper::INTEREST_NDNSIM:
+          {
+            Ptr<InterestHeader> header = Create<InterestHeader> ();
+
+            // Deserialization. Exception may be thrown
+            packet->RemoveHeader (*header);
+            NS_ASSERT_MSG (packet->GetSize () == 0, "Payload of Interests should be zero");
+
+            return header->GetNamePtr ();
+            break;
+          }
+        case HeaderHelper::CONTENT_OBJECT_NDNSIM:
+          {
+            Ptr<ContentObjectHeader> header = Create<ContentObjectHeader> ();
+
+            // Deserialization. Exception may be thrown
+            packet->RemoveHeader (*header);
+            return header->GetNamePtr ();
+            break;
+          }
+        case HeaderHelper::INTEREST_CCNB:
+        case HeaderHelper::CONTENT_OBJECT_CCNB:
+          NS_FATAL_ERROR ("ccnb support is broken in this implementation");
+          break;
+        }
+
+      // exception will be thrown if packet is not recognized
+    }
+  catch (UnknownHeaderException)
+    {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+
 } // namespace ndn
 } // namespace ns3
diff --git a/helper/ndn-header-helper.h b/helper/ndn-header-helper.h
index d7ea296..a5a4d2f 100644
--- a/helper/ndn-header-helper.h
+++ b/helper/ndn-header-helper.h
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 
 namespace ndn {
 
+class Name;
+
 /**
  * \ingroup ndn-helpers
  *
@@ -49,15 +51,15 @@
      @brief enum for Ndn packet types
    */
   enum Type {INTEREST_CCNB, CONTENT_OBJECT_CCNB,
-             INTEREST_NDNSIM, CONTENT_OBJECT_NDNSIM}; 
+             INTEREST_NDNSIM, CONTENT_OBJECT_NDNSIM};
 
   /**
-   *	Packet ::= Version 
+   *	Packet ::= Version
    *		   PacketType
    *		   (Interest | ContentObject)
    *
-   *        0                   1             
-   *        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 
+   *        0                   1
+   *        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
    *        +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    *        |    Version    |   PacketType  |
    *        +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
@@ -70,12 +72,12 @@
    *
    * It peeks first 2 bytes of a packet.
    *
-   *  All interests start with 
+   *  All interests start with
    *   +-----------------+  +---+---------+-------+
    *   | 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 |  | 1 | 1 0 1 0 | 0 1 0 |   (0x01 0xD2)
    *   +-----------------+  +---+---------+-------+
    *
-   *  All content objects start with 
+   *  All content objects start with
    *   +-----------------+  +---+---------+-------+
    *   | 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |  | 1 | 0 0 0 0 | 0 1 0 |   (0x04 0x82)
    *   +-----------------+  +---+---------+-------+
@@ -85,9 +87,17 @@
    *
    * \see http://www.ccnx.org/releases/latest/doc/technical/BinaryEncoding.html
    */
-  
+
   static Type
   GetNdnHeaderType (Ptr<const Packet> packet);
+
+  /**
+   * @brief A heavy-weight operation to get name of the packet
+   *
+   * This function returns name of the packet by deserializing a copy of the packet to a right header
+   */
+  static Ptr<const Name>
+  GetName (Ptr<const Packet> packet);
 };
 
   /**