It wasn't a refrigeration company's decision to use a cartoon egg with wings, of indeterminate gender and with "a strong sense of justice" as its corporate mascot that got Japan-based internet users giggling. It was, simply, the character's name.

Fukuppy has become an unlikely online star after someone spotted his unintentionally hilarious name on the firm's website.

This led to inaccurate reports that Fukuppy was being used to promote the regeneration of Fukushima Prefecture – given the long list of problems to have hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant since the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, some thought the name would have been inadvertently fitting.

"I'm Fukuppy. Nice to meet you," the mascot says on the company's website.

The origins of Fukuppy, whose name combines the Japanese word for good fortune with letters from the English word "happy", are far more mundane.

He represents Fukushima Industries, a major manufacturer of industrial cooling systems based in Osaka that has offices throughout Japan and in many parts of Asia, including China and Singapore.

The firm is named after its founder – a certain Mr Fukushima – whose name shares the kanji characters used to write the name of the tsunami-hit prefecture hundreds of miles away in Japan's north-east.

On Tuesday, the company said the online sniggering over its mascot's name was the result of an innocent misunderstanding, adding that the character had no connection with the Fukushima region, although the firm does have a sales office there.

"A lot of media are reporting [on] our mascot, which created misunderstanding," a company spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse. "In order to get rid of the confusion, we will announce our stance on the issue on our website later in the day."

The firm issued a press release clearing up any misunderstanding and apologising for the commotion the media coverage had caused.

Later in the day, the company had replaced the mascot's English name with its Japanese rendering.

The use of inventive English in advertising copy, including for the names of mascots, isn't unusual in Japan, where everything from the armed services to the tax authorities employ cute characters to promote products and services.