A little luck is not a bad thing to have when launching a business.

So, when Irene Chen took steps to start a Doraville-based travel firm, she sought fortune in the most reliable source she knew.

The number 8.

At the Bank of America, she requested a business account loaded with 8s. For the business phone number, she also sought a battery of 8s. Chen's not alone, especially among Chinese-Americans, favoring 8. Today is the 8th day of August 2008, also known as 8/8/08, a sort of triple crown of good fortune, if you will.

The Chinese chose this coveted 8th day at 8:08 p.m. local time (8:08 a.m. ET) for the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Here, many will host their own Olympic parties complete with TV viewings, music and grilled dumplings.

Chen, who also owns two restaurants, plans to make 8/8/08 customer appreciation day at Teriyaki Chicken in Kennesaw, serving specials on everything from won tons to sweet and sour pork.

On its own, 8-8-08 is, well, kind of significant. Over time, dates naturally align themselves in nifty patterns. And the truth is that 80 years from now 8-8-88 will trump Friday in eight-asticness.

From 1-1-01 to 1-2-03, Web sites and marketers have fun with the numerical alignments. For instance, the horror remake "The Omen" opened on June 6, 2006 – a Tuesday – capitalizing on the 666 devil angle.

And last year, more than 38,000 couples signed up on the Knot.com's registry site for a 7/7/07 wedding, more than three times the usual number for a Saturday wedding in July.

Numbers — rooted in spirituality and mythology — are deeply ingrained into our culture, according to Donald Dossey, a folklore historian and author of "Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun."

"And if you have a bunch of people thinking about it, it becomes very powerful, like the spirit of the times," he said.

Said Chen: "When I first moved to this country 22 years ago, the first thing I did was get a license plate with three 8s. I will keep it forever."

Eight has long historical ties in China. Chinese Buddhism, for example, uses 8 holy objects while imperial-era scholars referred to 8 directions, 8 winds and 8 mountains to determine auspicious locations.

But the push for obtaining 8s in phone numbers, license plates, even e-mail addresses and names — is relatively new, according to Cai Rong, associate professor of Chinese Studies at Emory University. She said the pronunciation of 8 (bah) is similar to the pronunciation of the word for prosperity or "get rich" (fah) in some dialects including Mandarin.

But as recently as the 1970s, pursuing personal wealth in China was condemned in society so few people gave much attention to the number. But with attaining wealth now openly encouraged, many clutch the number 8 as if it was Lucky Bamboo (Eight stalks of bamboo, by the way makes it even more lucky).

The coolness factor of 8 is familiar to Charlene Fang, a Doraville banker. She bought her house, in part, because the address ended with the number 8. She covets her cell phone number — which she says, by chance, has four 8s.

"I will never change my cellphone number," she said. "Sometimes, when my friends call me they say, 'you are so lucky to have that number. So many 8s.' "

At Touchmark National Bank where she works, she didn't give up when "8" was already taken as an employee bank number.

She took 26, because — you guessed it – it adds up to 8.

Still, the affection for 8 bubbles up rather suddenly for some people.

For Manusca Bernadeau, pregnant with her first baby and nearing her Aug. 16 due date, 8/8/08 is a perfect day to give birth. And since her doctors advised a C-section, she repeatedly asked to schedule it for Aug. 8.

"A friend told me the number 8 is symbolic for new beginnings. And that's when I thought, this is it. Perfect," she said, adding "What a cool birthday it would be."

LUCKY NUMBERS AND UNLUCKY ONES....

1 Not surprisingly, the number is generally treated as a symbol of unity. It often symbolizes God or the universe.

3 In Christianity, there is the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three is often featured in folktales — three wishes, three little pigs, three bears. Plato saw three as being symbolic of the triangle, the simplest spatial shape, and considered the world to have been built from triangles.

7 There's the seven seas, seven virtues, the seven days of creation, the seven stars. Seven days of the week. Seven is also prime number — that is, it cannot be obtained by multiplying two smaller numbers together.

8 In Chinese, it sounds like a word meaning "to get rich." Other Chinese say the number's symmetrical shape mirrors the concept of yin and yang, opposing forces traditionally thought to compose the universe. Today, some Chinese pay exorbitant fees to have eights in their phone numbers and license plates.

And the Unlucky Numbers....

4 Considered unlucky in China because "she" for four and "shi" for death sound similar. You won't find a fourth floor at many buildings in China.

13 Historians disagree why 13 is unlucky but one theory is Judas, who betrayed Jesus was the 13th guest at the last Supper. Donald Dossey, a folklore historian and author of "Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun" said the fear of 13 goes back at least 2,500 years to Norse myth about 12 gods having dinner at their heaven. And the uninvited 13th guest orchestrated the shooting death of the god of joy and gladness with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Many hotels do not have a 13th floor and Dossey said many streets in Louisiana do not have "13" street addresses.

666 According to the Bible, 666 is the marking of the devil. When President Reagan moved to Bel Air after his two terms in 1989, he requested his "666" address be changed, and it was to 668.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, Donald Dossey, a folklore historian and author of "Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun."

— Richard Hallman and Craig Simons contributed to this article.