"Was" refers to the character of something. "Was ist deine Adresse?" => My adress is my adress. My adress is stupid. My adress is funny. "Wie ist deine Adresse?" is related to "Wie lautet deine Adresse?" (literally: "How does your adress sound?"). The same applies to "What is your name?". "Was ist dein Name?" => Mein Name ist lustig. "Wie ist dein Name?" / "Wie lautet dein Name?" => Mein Name ist Angelinelim. (=> The answer "Mein Name lautet Angelinelim" sounds a bit antiquated.)

There's not a satisfying explanation, I'm afraid. It is a frequently used and common phrase and therefore conventionalised. German simply realises this question differently. You're of course right that, in general, 'what' means 'was'. You can regard the above question as an exception.