From some research it appears to me that the names : Joshua, Jeshua, Yeshu, Yeshua, Yoshua, Jehoschua, Jehoshua, Yehoshua, Yahushua, all are translated in Greek with: 'Jesus' (Iesous).

Some info:

skeptically.org/bible/id4.html
By Dennis McKinsey
DID JESUS OF NAZARETH EXIST? (The Talmud)

The concluding summary of Dennis McKinsey is that the Talmud does not give any evidence of the historicity of Jesus. His reasoning is characterized by this statement:

Again, one can see how desperate some apologists are to find something in the Talmud that can substantiate the alleged existence of Jesus of Nazareth.

But one of the arguments he uses is this (and this is my point):

Even if Yeshu and Jesus were identical words, it was not an unusual name. On the contrary, it appears rather frequently in ancient Jewish literature. Josephus records the following out of 28 high priests in the 107 years from Herod to the destruction of Jerusalem: Jesus, son of Phabet; Jesus, son of Damneus; Jesus, son of Gamaliel; Jesus, son of Sapphias; Jesus son of Thebuthus.


www.mystae.com/restricted...early.html
Jesus and the Tradition of Joshua
Yeshu'a the Savior
The name "Jesus" [ IhsouV] is the Greek spelling of the Aramaic "Yeshu."

"Yeshu'a is the Aramaic corruption of Hebrew Yehoshu'a (YHWH saves) which the English...mispronounced as Joshua [of the Old Testament]...Galileans had a tendency to drop initial and final vowel sounds. So Elazar was pronounced Lazar and Yeshu'a was shortened to Yeshu (ye-SHOO)."
"The final S was originally added [[to IhsouV] to as the normal Greek nominative ending of any Semitic masculine name that ended in a vowel sound, since in Greek only feminine names end in a vowel. The J was introduced as the standard long form I in the gothic script of the high medieval period. Each of these orthographic developments in turn produced changes in the way the name was pronounced."
- Mahlon Smith (CrossTalk 2)

"Working from the index of the complete works of Josephus we find reference to no less than fourteen people named 'Jesus'." 1. Jesus, son of Phabet - priest
2. Jesus, son of Ananus - prophesied the destruction of the temple.
3. Jesus, or Jason
4. Jesus, son of Sapphias, governor of Tiberias
5. Jesus, brother of Onias - priest
6. Jesus, son of Gamaliel - priest
7. Jesus, eldest priest after Ananus - priest
8. Jesus, son of Damneus - priest
9. Jesus, son of Gamala (Josephus' friend)
10. Jesus, [or Joshua] son of Nun
11. Jesus, son of Saphet - ringleader of robbers
12. Jesus, son of Thebuthus - priest
13. Jesus, son of Josedek
14. Jesus of Galilee & his 600 followers
15. Jesus, the Christ (dubious reference)
"In the works of Josephus, Jesus, as a name, is exceeded only by Simon (20 times) and Joseph (16). Josephus was a close personal friend of several Jesuses, especially the Jesus who was one of the last high priests before the war.

"Most of the Jesuses were either priests, prophets or bandits. It was not only a popular name, but one of distinction."
- Cliff Carrington, "The Flavian Testament"

www.objectivethought.com/...smyth.html
There were plenty of godmen at the time of Jesus, and a great number of them were called Jesus. Only in the New Testament we have Jesus Bar Abbas (in later manuscripts called Barabbas) and Bar Jesus. Josephus identifies a few of these messiahs: Jesus son of Danmeus, Jesus son of Sapphias, Jesus son of Ananus, Jesus the high priest and son of Onias, Jesus son of Gamaliel, Jesus son of Gamala, Jesus son of Saphat, Jesus son of Thebuthus. Couldn't Jesus have been inspired by some of these messiahs?


Further:
-The Wisdom of Ben Sira is a book written circa 180175 BC. The author is Yeshua ben Sira (or Sirach); ='Jesus ben Sirach'.

-Jesus who is called Justus (Col 4:11).

-a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. (Acts 13:6).

-Joshua the son of Nun (servant of Moses)

So, it seems that 'Jesus', or some version of "Yoshua", was a common name, like our 'John'.

This brings me back to 'my' historical truths:

1. "Yoshua" was a common name there and then, like 'John' in
our days.
2. Messiah's were coming and going; it was not a very rare
phenomenon.
3. Crucifixion was a common punishment; many Jews and
others were crucified for lots of reasons.
4. A religion (Christianity) came into existence in the first
century, centred (from hearsay) around a man called
Yoshua/Jesus of Nazareth.

Conclusion:

It is very likely there was a man around 30 C.E. :

1. who was called "Yoshua" or in Greek Jesus,
2. who came from Nazareth,
3. and who was called messiah by other people,
4. and who was crucified by the Romans.

Aad