Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (2)
1.
the person for whom something is named;
- Example: "Constantine I is the eponym for Constantinople"2.
the name derived from a person (real or imaginary);
- Example: "Down's syndrome is an eponym for the English physician John Down"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Eponym \Ep"o*nym\, Eponyme \Ep"o*nyme\, n. [Cf. F. ['e]ponyme.
See Eponymous.]
1. The hypothetical individual who is assumed as the person
from whom any race, city, etc., took its name; as, Hellen
is an eponym of the Hellenes.
[1913 Webster]
2. A name, as of a people, country, and the like, derived
from that of an individual.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
eponym
n 1: the person for whom something is named; "Constantine I is
the eponym for Constantinople"
2: the name derived from a person (real or imaginary); "Down's
syndrome is an eponym for the English physician John Down"