Actually, Don, "Yeshua" was a fairly common name in Palestine in the 1st Century or so CE. Jesus ben Sirach lived as early as 200 BCE; many ossiaries and other "name" records have been found with the name on them. It is even thought by some that "Barrabas" may have had the full name of "Yeshua bar Abbas" or Jesus Barrabas -- a revolt by a person of that name was recorded by the Romans.

As for the "Gospels" -- reputable scholars list Matthew, Luke, Thomas, John, and the Egerton Gospel as derivative from M, Mark, Q, L, Thomas (an earlier version from which the later Thomas was derived), Signs, and an earlier Egerton. Another early writing appropriate to study is called the Didache.

Then there are the Dag Hammani manuscripts, the Gospel of Magdala, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of James...not to mention the "Dead Sea Scrolls."

Albert Schweitzer wrote "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" nearly a century ago. It's hard going, but quite good scholarship.