Save Gender Masculine Usage Soviet Scripts Авангард(Russian) Pronounced Pron. /ɐ.vɐn.ˈɡart/(Russian) [key·simplify] Meaning & History Derived from Russian авангард (avangard), which is a borrowing of French avant garde "vanguard". A famous bearer of this name is Avangard Leontiev (b. 1947), a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor.