'The Doctor' - not 'Doctor Who'?

It is interesting to see just how many Whovians become irate
when someone refers to the Time Lord as:
'Doctor Who'.

Yet having watched the series from the late 60's, I - like a great many others - grew up with the understanding that there was no problem referring to the character as 'Doctor Who' - particularly as, for the first eighteen years of the original series (and then again in the first year of the modern series), as well as being called 'The Doctor', the Time Lord was very widely referred to as "Doctor Who" (or: Dr. Who") by the BBC themselves.

It is how he was identified in the programme's end-credits.
It is also how he was identified by:

The shows original creators,

Several of its Producers (including the sainted Verity Lambert),

Script writers,

Production-paperwork compilers,

Actors who played Classic-era incarnations of the Time Lord,

The BBC Radio Times listings guide editors and feature writers,

The editors of the classic-era Who Annuals,

The editors of Classic-era who Novelisations,
and so on.

And, contrary to what many would have us believe, for the majority of the 'Classic Era' and beyond, the Time Lord was also commonly referred to as 'Doctor Who' by the general public, by the British press, and more importantly, by many fans:

Some 'Whovian Social History':
Numerous press clippings etc,
which include reference (however brief) to the Time Lord as 'Doctor Who'
can be viewed
HERE