It sounds like what you want is just a classic attributes setup on your product display. What you've requested is exactly how the system was designed to work. In your product type, you would add the color field and be sure to check the box to make it function as an attribute field on Add to Cart forms. Then when you make the products for the display, just set the title to include the full name plus the color indication as you select the color in the attribute field.

The Add to Cart form will then automatically take care of the shortened color select list, but the product in the cart will still show the full product title.

That's all I'll say on that here, as this is covered both in documentation and videos in the video library. I suggest you search those places further if you need more assistance.