To enhance the quality of service (QoS) in named data mobile ad hoc network (NDMANET), this paper proposes a novel node activeness-based packet forwarding (NAPF) strategy designed to mitigate performance degradation caused by the network’s time-varying topology. The proposed NAPF strategy periodically calculates and updates the activeness levels of all participating nodes, prioritizing nodes with higher activeness for forwarding and caching interest and data packets. A simulation platform is developed using the open-source NS-3/ndnSIM framework to conduct comparative performance evaluations among default flooding, shortest path routing, and the proposed NAPF strategy. Experimental results indicate that in medium-to high-mobility scenarios, the NAPF strategy significantly reduces average request delay, improves response ratios, and decreases bandwidth consumption, with only a modest increase in node storage usage.