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It could almost have been a joke straight from the pages of Charlie Hebdo. And, as with some of the satirical magazine’s cartoons, nobody was quite sure whether to laugh or cry, according to The Guardian.

As a plaque commemorating the magazine’s staff killed in a terrorist attack a year ago was unveiled by French president François Hollande in an official ceremony on Tuesday, it was discovered that the name of one of the victims had been misspelled.

Journalists who had gathered at Charlie Hebdo’s former offices – where brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi murdered 11 people on 7 January 2015 – were the first to notice the mistake in the name of Georges Wolinski. The 80-year-old cartoonist’s surname had been spelled Wolinsky.

The marble plaque, which had been installed the previous day outside the offices in Rue Nicolas Appert in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, was hastily covered with a black cloth. A temporary correction to the name was made and a replacement plaque was promised within 48 hours.

Some saw the error as appropriately amusing: a headline on the website of magazine Marianne read “The final joke from Wolinsky (sic)”. Others saw it as revealing a regrettable lack of respect. The hashtag #JeSuisCharly spread across social networks.

Officials said Wolinski’s widow, Maryse, had been informed of the mistake. A spokesperson for the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who was also at the unveiling ceremony, said the error had been made by the engraving company.

The excuse was given credence by a tweet from journalist Aurélie Sarrot on Monday, which showed a photograph of a computer screen at the engravers on which Wolinski’s name was spelled correctly.

Separate plaques were installed at the spot where police officer Ahmed Merabet was shot by the fleeing Kouachi brothers on nearby Boulevard Richard Lenoir, and at the Hyper Cacher supermarket where Amedy Coulibaly killed four hostages two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack.