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I've been told that number 1 wrong and number 2 is correct, but I'm wondering why exactly.
In English, what's your origin vs where's your origin has the same meaning to me and my first instinct is to use what instead of where for this. Does anyone have any insight on why this is exactly?
This is the difference between what a word means according to a bilingual dictionary and what a word means within its native language.
According to the 日本国語大辞典
その土地またはその学校などから世に出ること。また、それまで過ごした経歴{けいれき}。
So the word 出身 literally speaks of where a person has come "out of" or "from," it makes sense to use where instead of what because of this. Note also that it is not only in the sense of birthplace, but family size 「そんな彼女自身も、「5人きょうだいの末っ子」という大家族の出身。」, school 「関西大学出身の有名人をご紹介します。 」, and so on.
