When can we start a question with 什么是……?

Question

The important thing to remember is that word order is the same in Chinese for questions and statements.
_{Placement of question words, Chinese Grammar Wiki}

While the Chinese Grammar Wiki says this, it doesn't give a single example where 什么 is the subject of a question. It feels like it's ungrammatical a lot of the time:

什么是这？ (What is this?)
什么是我的名字？ (What is your name?)
什么是你最喜欢的颜色？ (What is your favorite color?)
什么是你的水平？ (What is your level?)
什么是一加一？ (What is one plus one?)

But sometimes it seems okay:

什么是美？ (What is beauty?)
什么是百度？ (What is Baidu?)
什么是气候变化？ (What is climate change?)

I'm not precisely sure, but it appears we can ask questions like "什么是[pla pla]？" when "[pla pla]" is some abstract, unfamiliar, or needing-to-be-defined concept.

Question: When can we start a question with 什么是……?

Answer 1

Question: When can we start a question with 什么是……?

1. When asking for a definition

Example:

什么是美？ - you want the answer to tell you the definition of beauty

If the answer is a definition you can use 什么是 to start the question e.g. 什么是水平 (you want the definition of level)

~

2. When there is a follow-up statement by the asker

Example:

什么是美？ 美就是(insert your opinion on what is beauty)

Following this rule, you can even ask 什么是你的水平？ (What is your level?) as long as you have a follow-up statement

Example:

什么是你的水平？ 垃圾級就是你的水平!