Brain Game: The Elite Eight

I live in Michigan, and people often have to ask what the two-letter postal abbreviation is for our state. It's a pain sometimes, but living in Michigan is beneficial in other ways, such as being able to depict a map of your home state when you're wearing mittens. Anyway...

The confusion is understandable. Eight states begin with the letter "M," and four of them - Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Missouri - begin with "MI." (FWIW, "MI" is Michigan's abbreviation; the others are MN, MS and MO, respectively.)

The names of EIGHT of the 50 United States begin with a letter of the alphabet that no other state's name begins with. Name all eight!

Here is the SOLUTION.

THE SOLUTION:

Delaware,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Louisiana,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
Utah.