The syndrome is actually named after a guy named Dr. John Langdon Down. He was a doctor that became very interested in people with Down syndrome. This was back in the day when people with Down syndrome were put in insitutions and called "mongoloid idoits."

Anyway, Dr. Down saw that some of the people in the insitution looked similar to each other, but he knew they weren't related. So, he wrote down all their similarities in his essay. He also saw that they had potiental to learn, even though he never really knew how much potiental. He had a lot of guesses on why a person would have these features. He said that maybe they were a sign of transgression in evolution, but we now know that's wrong.

After Dr. Down passed away, the syndrome was named after him as Down's Syndrome. People were glad to get rid of the horrible term "Mongoloid," since people with Down syndrome have no relation to Mongolia (unless they are born there). Then, people began to realize that saying Down's syndrome implied that Dr. Down owned the syndrome, and/or the people who have the syndrome. All the business of ownership made people really uncomfortable, so the politically correct term has become Down syndrome. (In a lot of Europe, Down's Syndrome is still used.)

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