Steve Stedman walks us through a pain point when using replication:
SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Specify the actual server name. (Replication.Utilities).
You might be thinking to yourself that you had a typo in the server name, but no, after checking the server name it matches what you can connect with.
When I’ve seen this error, often it will even tell me the server name it’s expecting, which then makes me ask why I have to type it in if it knows already.