Why do we have fingernails and toe nails?

They can be useful (scratching an itch with your fingernails, for example), but they aren't necessary. Why do we have them?

According to the online encyclopedia, the human and primate nail corresponds to the claw, hoof, or talon of other animals. Human nails protect the tips of the toes and fingers, while fingernails help us pick up small objects and scratch ourselves.

On the other hand, the feet of primates are capable of gripping objects, just like their hands, so their toenails have much the same function as fingernails. However, human toenails seem to be an evolutionary leftover.

I searched the Web on "toenails fingernails" and "toenail purpose." Both of these searches turned up sites devoted to diseases of the nails, which provided more opinions. On one such site, podiatrist Michael Zapf agrees that nails are essential for manipulation and scratching (and he points out the importance of scratching in a primate or human's life).

But the doctor debunks the notion that nails exist to protect the tips of toes and fingers. He argues that your digits wouldn't be especially sensitive without nails. Dermatologist Mitch Bender appears to agree: "People can get along without nails -- toenails more than fingernails -- but they do make daily life a bit easier."

So, though there's some disagreement about whether or not toenails and fingernails serve to protect our digits, our resources all agree that our nails help us pick up little stuff like pencils, peanuts, and even bottles of nail polish ;)

The same reason animals have them. To dig. Sure we dont use them now but we did millions of years ago in the stone age.

Nails protect the fingertips and toes, they also help us grab or pick up objects.

Modern biological science tries to teach us that there is a "reason" for everything. When none is apparant, we make stuff up.

Fingernails and toenails are part of our bodies makeup. To suggest that they exist for a "reason" presupposes that genetic design is guided by an external force. To get an answer to this question, you have to decide whether you believe in a guiding force, then look toward that guiding force for the answer.

Possible answers include (depending on your belief system):
1) We were made in God's image (so maybe god has fingernails)
2) They are a latent byproduct of our evolution from the apes
3) They are necessary for the protection of toes and fingers
4) They just happen to be that way, you should use them for what they are useful for and ignore them the rest of the time.

it might be to help with balance or to protect our fingers or something..