diff --git a/include/villas/node.h b/include/villas/node.h
index 901bdafac..8c428084d 100644
--- a/include/villas/node.h
+++ b/include/villas/node.h
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@
   struct rtnl_cls;
 #endif /* WITH_NETEM */
 
+#define REGEX_NODE_NAME "[a-z0-9_-]{3,32}"
+
 /** The data structure for a node.
  *
  * Every entity which exchanges messages is represented by a node.
diff --git a/lib/node.cpp b/lib/node.cpp
index 82071c5b4..aec2f1465 100644
--- a/lib/node.cpp
+++ b/lib/node.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
  * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  *********************************************************************************/
 
+#include <regex>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <cctype>
 #include <openssl/md5.h>
@@ -645,14 +646,9 @@ invalid2:
 
 bool node_is_valid_name(const char *name)
 {
-	for (const char *p = name; *p; p++) {
-		if (isalnum(*p) || (*p == '_') || (*p == '-'))
-			continue;
+	std::regex re(REGEX_NODE_NAME);
 
-		return false;
-	}
-
-	return true;
+	return std::regex_match(name, re);
 }
 
 bool node_is_enabled(const struct node *n)