When the characters used to write Yamato Province (大倭国) was changed to '大和' in 757, the characters in all azana (common names) such as 'YAMATO no Sukune' (大倭宿禰) also changed to 'YAMATO' (大和), and it is highly likely that the name of the Yamato clan was originally written using the characters 倭.
なお、天平宝字元年(757)に「大倭国」が「大和｣に改められた際、「大倭宿禰」などの字（あざな）もすべて「大和｣に改められており、もとは倭氏と名乗っていた可能性が極めて高い。