The seeding of vortex domain walls in soft magnetic V-shaped nanowires by magnetic fields has been investigated via scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis and micromagnetic simulations. It is found that the orientation of the magnetic seeding field determines the sense of rotation and the position of single vortex domain walls in the state of remanence. The topology of the magnetic microstructure in combination with symmetry considerations gives the key for the explanation of this behavior.