The Case for Early Ascription of the Authors for the Canonical Gospels

It's common to read that the Gospels are "technically" anonymous.  When were the names that are found in our current canonical gospels first ascribed?  One view is that it came about as late as mid-second century.  Michael Bird has an excellent post which offers a summary of the arguments set forth by the late German scholar Martin Hengel that the Gospels were ascribed with their current names at a much earlier date.  The post is well worth reading. 

Martin Hengel - December 14, 1926 - July 2, 2009